Tea Biscuits

Biscuits

Ingredients:

• 3 Cup Flour
• 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
• 1 Tablespoon Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 Cup room temperature Butter
• 1/2 Cup Vegetable Shortening
• 1 Cup Milk

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 °F
2. In a large bowl or your stand mixer(whisk attachment) measure out the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, butter, and shortening and mix together until it looks like fine grains of sand and appears evenly mixed.
3. Stop the stand mixer or whatever mixing method you are using once this consistancy is reached. 
4. Remove bowl from the stand mixer and create a small well in the center of the bowl
5. Pour all the milk in at once and using your hands mix until flour and milk are just combined. Overmixing will lead to tough biscuits. 
6. On a floured surface gently turn and roll the dough out to be about 1 inch thick and use a biscuit cutter (or a clean empty can cut in half works well) to cut out the biscuits. 
7. Place biscuits onto an un-greased baking sheet and bake for about 10-14 minutes or till just golden.
8. Check after 10 minutes regardless on the bottom of a biscuit near the center, if it is getting too dark adjust and finish baking the biscuits on a higher rack. 
9. Cool on baking racks. Or eat them fresh from the oven, but wait about 5 minutes at least or else risk a nasty burn on the roof of your mouth. 
10. Before adding milk you can also add 1 cup or raisins or blueberries or something to make a more fancy biscuit. Or 1 cup shredded cheese for a cheese biscuit.

Enjoy!

Notes:

Ps. February 2014, Like most people my age I have a strange addiction to trolling around on Buzzfeed mostly around the DIY and Food sections. Lately there has been a lot of Copy Cat Recipes for Red Lobster floating around. Now personally I've never eaten there since I have only lived on the east coast of Canada and I am pretty sure it just doesn't exist here. Anyways the Cheddar Bay Biscuits looked too yummy to refuse. So I followed their recipe to the letter and they sucked. Not the right texture, and a little bland. Plus the recipe called for bisquick mix and this Miss does not cook like that.

So if I were in the mood to re-make Cheddar Bay Biscuits I would use my own biscuit recipe, swap the milk for butter milk, and fold the cheese into the dough right before adding the milk to combine. I would use about 1 cup of sharp strong flavored cheddar with this recipe. Then melt 1/4 cup butter, add 1 teaspoon each fresh shredded basil, parsley and oregano, and about 1-2 teaspoons garlic powder, mix together and brush over tops of biscuits. Bake according to recipe directions.

Notes:

I have this tagged as an easy recipe, and it is. However I must disclose that for the longest time I could not make a decent biscuit to save my soul if the devil was demanding it of me.  I'm still not sure how I managed to stuff up this recipe so often when I was younger but I have a recipe that hasn't failed me yet and it is pretty easy to pull off.  I started using my stand mixer to make biscuits, but you can get the same results with a power hand mixer, or if you own a pastry cutter.  My mother has magic biscuit fairies or something and can make perfect biscuits every time with only a fork and bowl, no measuring or anything. I have no clue how she pulls it off but it is truly magic.  I don't think I'll ever have the same gift but I do at least have this recipe to get me through my biscuit fixes.  Oh and a final word of advice, this is another recipe that instructions should be followed fairly carefully. Listen to my words children. . .