Biscuits And Shortcake
They’re the same, except shortcake has sugar added. Sure, you can buy biscuits in a can, and I do from time to time, but they’re so easy to make, it always makes me feel guilty. Oh. And who started this “flaky biscuits” crap? Biscuits aren’t supposed to be flaky.
Buttermilk biscuits
Add 4 T. of sugar, and you have shortcake.
4 c. flour (see below)
1 t. salt
1 T. baking powder
2 t. baking soda
1 c. lard, or butter, or a combination, COLD, cut into small pieces
1 c. buttermilk
Preheat oven to 375.
About the flour. Pastry flour is ideal, but it’s hard to find. Half cake and half all-purpose will do well; just all-purpose is fine.
Mix the flour, salt, baking powder and soda in a bowl. There is no point in sifting, but you may, if you like. Add the lard or butter, then cut in. Most pastry blenders are cheap wire that only works if the fat is far too soft, so either find a good one (good luck with that), use a fork, or best, use your hand.
When mixture looks like coarse cornmeal, dump the buttermilk in all at once, and stir just until it holds together.
Dump on a floured counter, and lightly flour the top. This should be handled as little as possible. Do NOT knead. Do NOT use a rolling pin. Pat the dough out about an inch thick. Cut with a biscuit cutter, and place biscuits on a baking pan. You may quickly and gently push the remaining dough together and pat it out, then cut more biscuits, but you may only do this once (do it a second time, and the biscuits will be nasty).
Bake 20-25 minutes. Eat with butter and sorghum (if you can find it — I had no idea sorghum was “regional” until we moved here).
I recently ran across an interesting cobbler recipe, a shortcake-y cobbler, not the kind of cobbler I grew up with. It’s basically berries baked with a shortcake crust on top. The shortcake is more absorbent than the flaky cobbler crust I grew up with, and soaks up the juices. Good stuff, and easy to make.
Blackberry (or raspberry) cobbler
4 c. (2 quarts) berries
2 - 2 1/4 c. sugar
6 T. cornstarch
2 c. flour
4 T. sugar
4 t. baking powder
1 stick COLD butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 c. milk
Preheat oven to 425.
Mix the berries, sugar, and cornstarch, and pour into a deep, buttered pan.
Mix the flour, sugar, and baking powder, and cut in the butter. Mix in the milk, stir just until it holds together, then put on a floured counter. Pat into more or less the size and shape of the top of the dish, lay over, fold any excess down the sides, and bake on a foil-covered baking sheet for 35 minutes, until top is done and berries are bubbly. This is really good even without vanilla ice cream.
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