Auntie Nina's Biscuits

One of the best things about summer days at my great aunt Nina's dairy farm was her cooking. She made everything from scratch, mostly farm fresh. There are no words to describe the difference between the canned veggies too many of us grew up on and corn on the cob picked fresh from the garden. Or the milk from the cows that same morning. Best of all, one of my favorite foods to this day, was her homemade butter biscuits.

Flaky, delicious biscuits topped by sweet tart refrigerator jam made with whatever fruit happened to be ready to harvest that week. Sadly, my great aunt has since passed on and the farm sold off as a horse riders haven. But my memories of Auntie Nina's biscuits will last forever.

I tried many, many times, often with limited success, to recreate the exact taste of those biscuits. Even if I had her exact recipe, using store bought ingredients will never quite get there. After repeated experimenting, this recipe comes pretty close.


BREAKFAST BISCUITS
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
Dash salt
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/8 cup shortening
3/4 cup skim milk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Stir flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Gradually stir in milk until a soft dough forms. Turn out onto a floured surface, and knead 10-12 times. Pat or roll dough out to 3/4 of an inch thick. Cut biscuits with a large cutter or a juice glass dipped in flour. Repeat until all dough is used. Brush off the excess flour, and put biscuit dough rounds onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges begin to brown.  Makes 6 biscuits, about 175 calories each. Add a tablespoon of low sugar jam, a poached egg and a slice of bacon for a 370 calorie breakfast.

Comments

  1. Janet M. BeyerJuly 12, 2010 at 11:37 AM

    And in our house Shortening meant LARD Crisco, none of this healthy yellow stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Best Wishes, MarieJuly 12, 2010 at 6:41 PM

    amen on the lard. and .... the gravy ?? at least a few times a year, gotta have the gravy and .... bacon. oh yes, flaky biscuits are one of our heavenly fathers greatest gifts.

    ReplyDelete

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