The Biscuit Chronicles: Attempt 3 aka "Glory to the Biscuit"

"Glory to the biscuit." Is what Jeremy said today after Biscuit Attempt #3. And I guess I agree with him, because as good as the other attempts have been, I think this one was the best.


This attempt was based on a recipe recommended to me by a blogger who found my desperate call for biscuit recipes on 20SomethingBloggers.  Amanda of Something Savory did me a huge favor by introducing me to JPs Big Daddy biscuits, a recipe featured on AllRecipes.com. Amanda does an excellent job of the step by step recipe on her post dedicated to these amazing and tasty biscuits, and while you're checking out the step by step, be sure to check out her awesome blog. She has some yummy-looking recipes, and she also reviews restaurants. Just a peak at her blog is guaranteed to make you hungry.


So these biscuits were to die for, but our taste buds may have been a little confused and influenced by the mouth-watering SAUSAGE GRAVY that Amanda recommends for putting on top of the biscuits. Seriously, I've had a lot of gravy in my day, and this was right up there with the best!


The ingredients:


2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
3 1/3 tbsp shortening
2 tbsp butter
1 cup milk

Minus the milk, sugar, and salt. What a poor excuse for an ingredient photo.

Oh, and before I get started with the recipe, super excitingly, I got some new biscuit tools for my birthday, and this was the perfect opportunity to use them.

Pastry cutter (finally), new sifter, two new biscuit cutters, and an adorable new apron.

But back to the biscuits. After preheating the oven to 425, I sifted together my flour, salt, and sugar. I then added my Crisco and butter. Now, Crisco is something several people (Mama and Carla) have recommended that I use in my biscuits, and I must admit this seems to be the key difference. This particular recipe called for cold Crisco, and I don't keep my Crisco in the fridge, so I added it at room temperature. The biscuits may have turned out flakier if it had been true and cold. I used my new pastry cutter to cut in the Crisco and butter and cut until my consistency was what Amanda recommended as "coarse meal-ish." I then, slowly, added about 3/4 cup of milk, which proved to be just enough. 


The dough was incredibly easy to work, and I only had to knead it a couple of times to get it just perfect for patting out. I patted mine out a little thinner than Amanda recommended, maybe a 1/2 inch, and I used my smallest sized biscuit cutter to ensure a greater yield. I cut out about 12 biscuits.

Too many for one cast iron skillet alone, had to put the rest in a cake pan.

They took exactly fifteen minutes to bake. Oh! And Amanda's recommendation for putting the dough in the fridge before baking seemed to help. They turned out extraordinarily fluffy and tender. And the bottoms were browned just perfectly. Yum!

I suck at pretty food and pretty pictures, but rest assured, it tasted great. 

I recommend checking out Amanda's post for directions on the gravy. It may not look pretty the way I made it, but it was delicious. 


The Verdict:

Yum times a thousand. This is my winner so far. For now, this will be my go-to recipe when I want to make biscuits. 


What I Would Do Differently?


Absolutely nothing. Amanda at Something Savory obviously knows her food. Check her out and be impressed with delicious eats. PS - She's got a bacon cheddar scones recipe up right now that looks DIVINE. 


Call for recipes! Think you can beat JPs Big Daddy biscuits? 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.

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