Buttermilk Drop Biscuits

I had another recipe I planned to tell you about today. Actually I have quite a few recipes lined up to tell you about over the next few days. But these biscuits just couldn’t wait. They are total line jumpers, and I am okay with that. Because these biscuits are so fluffy, so rich, so tender, so simple, so… well, amazing, that I needed to tell you about them today.

Since moving to the South, I have had the pleasure of trying many biscuits. Usually they are the kind that have been rolled out and cut into perfect rounds. While they are delicious, I don’t often have the patience to make that kind of biscuit at home. When it’s breakfast time, I’m hungry, and I want to get to the eating – not to the rolling and the cutting. Enter the drop biscuit, the lazy biscuit-maker’s best friend. These little beauties require no dough rolling and no cutting; you just drop spoonfuls of dough onto the baking sheet and pop them in the oven. Easy as could be and quick enough to get on the table before rumbling tummies start to roar.

This particular recipe uses melted butter and buttermilk to give the biscuits rich flavor, a tender crumb, and a crisp exterior. Brushing them with a little melted butter right after they come out of the oven makes them even more decadent. They are delicious on their own, but you could certainly sweeten them up with a drizzle of honey or a smear of jam. I also think they’d make incredible breakfast sandwiches with some eggs, cheese, bacon, sausage, or whatever else you like tucked into the middle. However you serve them up, I dare you to eat just one.

Buttermilk Drop Biscuits
Adapted from Cooks Illustrated via Two Peas and Their Pod

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. sugar
3/4 tsp. table salt
1 cup cold buttermilk
8 T. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled for about 5 minutes
2 T. unsalted butter, melted

Directions:
Adjust oven rack to middle shelf and preheat to 475 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and 8 tablespoons of the butter until small clumps form.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix together with a rubber spatula until just combined and the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Using a greased 1/4-cup measuring cup, drop scoops of dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Make sure to place the biscuits about an inch apart from each other. (If you use level scoops you should get 12 biscuits. My scoops weren’t level, and I got 10 biscuits.) 

Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until the tops of the biscuits are crisp and lightly golden brown.

Remove the biscuits from the oven and brush the tops with the remaining melted butter.

Place the biscuits on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Makes 10 to 12 biscuits.


* Biscuits are best served warm, the day they are made.