Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Best. Biscuits. Ever.
From Cook’s Illustrated, the best cooking magazine ever (July/August 2004):
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon double-acting baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1.5 cups cold low-fat buttermilk
nonstick cooking spray
To form and finish the biscuits:
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- Adjust rack to middle position and preheat oven to 500F. Spray 9-inch round cake pan with cooking spray, dust with flour, set aside.
- In food processor, pulse the dry ingredients and the butter until pebbly. Transfer to mixing bowl and refrigerate until the oven is preheated.
- Add buttermilk. Stir until the wet and dry ingredients are just combined.
- Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop out some dough and drop it into the all-purpose flour. Gently coat with flour and roll the biscuit from hand to hand to get rid of the excess flour. Drop it onto the cake pan. Repeat. You want the biscuits to touch one another. (Cook’s Illustrated sez: 9 biscuits snugly around the perimeter of the cake pan, three in the center.)
- Spoon melted butter over tops of biscuits. Bake 5 minutes at 500 degrees, then lower oven to 450. Bake an additional 15 minutes or until the tops are golden.
- Cook’s Illustrated sez to cool in pan 2 minutes, invert onto a dish, and cool 5 minutes longer. We eat ’em straight out of the oven.
These biscuits will totally effin KILL your low carb diet. They’re great as is, but they’re extra decadent with honey and more butter.
Tonight, I made these biscuits, ham, and candied yams. Not bad, considering I ate some bad chicken yesterday, and I’ve felt bloated and nauseated ever since. Oy.
D.
My kids are biscuit fiends. I printed it out and plan on fixing them tomorrow. I’l let you know how they turn out.
Great. Let me know. I haven’t tried messing with the recipe yet (I think it would be fun to try adding some sauteed green onion and jalapenos) since the recipe is so perfect as is.
I love the TV show that Cook’s Illustrated produces, too–America’s Test Kitchen. It’s on PBS, so good luck finding it. The NY affiliates keep moving the time slot.
[…] House of Pancakes By Walnut A while ago, I had the bright idea of drafting the Cooks Illustrated buttermilk biscuit recipe into the service of a better pancake. (If you like biscuits and haven’t tried that recipe yet, try it.) Here is the successful result: […]