Criscuits

Criscuits

I have revised this recipe to make the biscuits extra yummy. The recipe now calls for butter, margarine or "buttery spread".

You can mix the dough in a small bowl using a fork or spoon. It also helps to use a pastry blender, a D-shaped thing with wires, used to "cut" the butter into the flour.

INGREDIENTS

I highly recommend the use of unbleached flour. I have found that bleached flour has a peculiar chemical odor and taste due to the chemicals used to bleach the flour. When making cakes and cookies there is generally enough sugar to disguise the chemical taste, but not so with biscuits. Avoid bread flour, as this makes the biscuits heavy and generally unsatisfactory. All-purpose flour works just fine.

I prefer Earth Balance buttery spread. It has the lowest water content of the spreads I've tried.

These biscuits taste good eaten plain or you can butter them.

90 g chilled butter/margarine/"buttery spread"

220 g (1 3/4 cups)unbleached flour (220 g)

Scant 1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tsp cream of tartar + ½ tsp baking soda (this is your leavening)

Whisk together dry ingredients. Cut in butter using a pastry blender or two knives. You should have a crumbly, meal-like mixture of flour and butter. You may need to adjust the amount of salt depending on the salt content of your buttery spread.

Add milk, buttermilk or water; mix to make a dough which is somewhat stiff.

Allow dough to rest for 10 - 15 minutes.
Drop biscuits onto non-stick baking sheet.
Bake 15 min. at 375 F or until golden brown.