The Biscuit Chronicles: Attempt 2

I learned something this week that I should have probably already known. If I had thought about it for a split-second, it undoubtedly would have occurred to me. I'm sure of it. Biscuits aren't biscuits everywhere. This was pointed out to me by one of my readers, Jo of the blog Chicken and Bees. Now Jo is from Australia, and to be perfectly honest, it never occurred to me before last weekend that I might actually have international readers, which is a thought that is nearly too exciting to handle. Someone from across the world is reading something this simple country girl wrote? COOL! I squealed for about an hour after Jo emailed me with her "biscuit" recipe from Australia. What can I say? I excite easily.
For those of you who aren't from the US, a biscuit here is probably more like a scone in your neck of the woods; although, I'm not convinced they're quite the same thing. A biscuit to you guys is a cookie to Americans. According to Wikipedia, a biscuit in the United States is a "small, leavened bread, similar to a scone.  In Commonwealth English, [biscuit] commonly is used to refer to a small and hard, often sweetened, flour-based product, most akin in American English to a cookie, or sometimes in the case of cheese biscuits, a cracker." So there you have it. Scones are biscuits. Biscuits are scones. Cookies are biscuits. And biscuits are cookies. Makes perfect sense. 

But that's all semantics. Let's get back to what matters: the food! This weekend I tried making Jo's biscuit-scones and what a time I had. I don't think I've ever laughed so much cooking. The recipe was both fun and original, and I feel just a tiny bit "worldlier" for trying it. Here's what the recipe called for:

3 cups self-rising flour

Pinch of salt

1 cup cream

1 cup Sprite

Yes, Sprite.

Now, Jo had to do some translating for me for this recipe. In Australia, Sprite and carbonated  lemon-lime drinks like it are called lemonade. Here in the US, lemonade isn't typically carbonated. Also, the cups in Australia are about 50 milliliters bigger than the cups here, but as Jo mentioned in her email to me, this particular recipe is more about proportion. I found that using the standard US cup worked fine.

After sifting the flour and salt into a mixing bowl, I added the cup of cream then the cup of sprite. I mixed this together with a butter knife until combined. I then turned the dough out onto a floured surface. Now, this is where I went wrong and things got funny. I'm thinking the Sprite must make this an extremely sticky dough. I mean sticky, sticky. Sticky like my nephew's hands are sticky after he eats fruit snacks. And not anticipating the extra stickiness of the dough, I didn't flour my hands or the board I turned the dough out on nearly enough. I swear it looked like I was making a plaster cast of my hands!

I never fail to get flour hand-prints on my butt when I bake...

...And a dusting of flour on my feet. Messy cook!

But after, and in spite of, all that mess, I finally got them on the baking sheet!

Once I got the dough off my hands and floured them a bit more, I kneaded a few times, then patted the dough out to about an inch thickness. I then cut them out and placed them on a slightly greased baking sheet. Jo recommended placing the biscuits close together on the sheet, and I did. This helped them rise beautifully! I baked these in a preheated 500 degree for exactly 12 minutes. They turned out slightly browned and very light and fluffy.

The Verdict:

I don't know what they should be officially called, but no matter what the name they were great and extremely tasty. Honestly, they tasted very biscuit-y to me, so I'm thinking a scone is very much like a biscuit. And these were easily the softest and most tender biscuit-scones I've ever made. The leavening power of the sprite was outstanding, and contrary to what I thought when I read that sprite was in the recipe, they were not sweet nor did you even detect a hint of lemon-lime taste. Yep, I'd definitely make these again.

What I would do differently?

Add more flour to my hands and board! I definitely probably could have added a bit more flour to the dough, too, just to make it less sticky-fied. But other than that? I wouldn't change a thing. Thanks to Jo from Australia for an excellent recipe! Be sure to visit Chicken and Bees for funny and quirky posts and some of the cutest kitties you'll ever see. 

Call for recipes! If any of you fabulous readers have any biscuit recipes you'd like me to try out, let me know. If I use your recipe, I'll feature you (and your blog if you have one) in The Biscuit Chronicles post. Just shoot me an email at katieross83[at]gmail[dot]com.