An Obsession & Biscuits!

It's time I come clean--I am a cookbook addict!  I love the pictures, the ideas, the colors, the possibilities...  Some say cookbooks are dying, but for those of us who love to cook cookbooks are cherished items in our households.  My absolute favorites aren't the most popular, nor from the Food Network stars, instead they are often the Junior Leagues and Southern classics.  Here are my most used Texas Cookbooks (another obsession of mine--home!):

Cookbooks are more for generating ideas instead of feeling restricted.  I truly love them. I will sit in my atrium and just look through them and create ideas for future meals.  Perhaps I am from a different generation--I don't know.  They bring me such joy and happiness---like a video game for my nephews or a history book for my husband. :o)  Just different.  

With my love of cookbooks comes my quest of the best biscuit recipe.  If you are from the South or had a Grandma (Gran-MAW) who made them well you know what I am saying when I say "Why in the HELL would you eat a canned biscuit?"  Whoops--was that too rough?  Sorry, but DARN!  They are SIMPLE and when made well they melt in your mouth!  I love savory biscuits, sweet biscuits (for shortcake--not really a cake at all), and my fave is with HONEY!  

One would think that with my biscuit obsession that I have settled on one recipe--nope.  I continue to explore new ones, and revisit ones from the past.  This morning I whipped up these 

and "HELLO FLUFFY & FLAKEY BITES OF LOVE!"  Silly as it seems, biscuits to me are a bit of nostalgia!  They bring back fabulous memories of my youth, they bring me home a bit!  I hope you decide to put away the can and try these next time you crave biscuits.  

Thank you, Terry Thompson-Anderson for writing Texas on the Plate and for this fabulous biscuit recipe

Biscuits

Makes 12-16 biscuits (depending on your biscuit cutter size or glass!)

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

1/4 cup powdered milk

2 Tbsp baking powder

2 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cream of tarter

1/2 cup shortening (yep, crisco or Spectrum makes one that is trans fat free) COLD

1/2 cup butter--COLD

3/4 cup buttermilk (MUST USE!)

Directions:

1. If you have a food processor, break it out!  If not, get a pastry blender ready.  Preheat oven to 400*F. In a bowl (or your processor) mix together flour through cream of tarter--pulse.  
2. Add in COLD fats (shortening and butter, cut into chunks), pulse for 30 seconds.  Should resemble pea size crumb, clusters.  Note: you never, ever over mix biscuit dough--they will be brick like!!! 
3. Make a well in the center and pour the buttermilk in.  Mix with your hands or a large spoon until it comes together.
4. Flour a cutting board or counter top and run your hands under COLD WATER.  Yep, it's a trick!  This keeps the heat of your hands from melting the butter when you knead it--trust me!!!
5. Gently knead the dough, but no more than 5 times!!!  Roll out to 1 inch thickness and cut, roll and cut, roll and cut--you should be done and ready to bake now! Place on a cookie sheet and you can brush the tops with additional buttermilk if you'd like--I did not, but sometimes I do. :o)
6. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden. 
7. Tasty the flakey goodness!!!!

It might just be the ONE!!!