Ronda from ~ The Family Table, brings us "Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits!"

The Fall weather just begs for comfort food. Nothing to me is more comforting that a homemade Buttermilk Biscuit. Although I do a lot of baking, I don’t partake too much in all of the goodies. But a hot, buttered biscuit is almost more than I can take.  Right now I’m staring down a pan full and hoping I can wrap and freeze before I gobble a few. :) 

I know I have been on a foodsaver kick, but this little tool has proved to be invaluable to fast cooking for the family. I bake a batch of biscuits only about once a month but I still want to do it fast. Every time I cook I think to myself how I can make it faster and more efficient for next time. 

My first time cutting tip is that I automatically double the recipe. My batch makes about 7 biscuits so doubling gives me a dozen plus two smaller ones. When we eat them, each person gets 1. Easily we could each eat 3, but by limiting to 1, we have another breakfast AND we aren’t getting more calories than we need. Second time cutting tip is that I wrap each left over biscuit in saran wrap and then freeze (foodsaver style) in batches of 3 (because I have 3 kids). On a busy weekday morning, I can pull the biscuits, defrost in micro for a few seconds, top with an egg and slice of lean ham, sprinkle of cheese and they have a hearty breakfast that takes no more than 5 minutes to prepare. Third tip.  Whenever I make a fresh batch of something that needs measuring with flour etc, I make multiple batches. Get out the bowls and start an assembly line. It takes a few minutes more, but you are only washing the dishes once. Normally I can whip out the double batch, dry ingredients in foodsaver bags but since I had time, I went ahead and crumbled the butter into each batch, foodsavered and then froze the bags. If I make three, that is a quarter of the year with two breakfasts worth each time. Do you see how the time saving elements come into play when you think of this each and every time you cook something? The fourth time saving tip is that I plug what I cook into the icalendar and make it repeat monthly. Next month, as I am doing my meal prep and plan, I can see that some of my meals are already planned and pop up automatically. I can serve something that my family isn’t sick of eating and since it is already mostly prepped, it is quick. I open the bag for a fresh batch and all of I have to do is add the buttermilk and pop them in the oven. Quick and efficient. Home cooked. Inexpensive. 

Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits

adapted from Heirloom Baking by The Brass Sisters

4 cups of flour

2 T sugar

1 tsp of baking soda

4 tsp of baking powder

1 tsp salt

12 T cold, unsalted butter, diced

1 1/2 cups cold butter milk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Add dry ingredients to a big bowl. Add diced butter. Working quickly, use your fingers to pinch each small piece of butter with the flour and go through the batch until all of the butter is mixed with flour into small pieces. Add buttermilk and mix using a touch more flour just so it isn’t too sticky. Turn out on the counter and roll out to 1 or 1 1/2 inches thick and use a biscuit cutter to cut out the circles. Do not twist and turn the cutter or your biscuits won’t rise as much. Push down cutter and pull straight up. Add biscuits to cookie sheet. Brush biscuits with melt butter. Bake for about 10-12 minutes until golden 
brown.

Look at the rise! Do you see the layers? Don't over mix...

all I have to do is add buttermilk!

Fried egg sandwich!! :)

Serve hot with butter and honey or jam. Or make a biscuit sandwich with a fried/scrambled egg, ham, and cheese. Have a hot cup of coffee and relax. This is the perfect weekend, sleepy morning type breakfast in my book. Enjoy!

Happy Cooking,

Ronda from The Family Table