Granny's Biscuits

Hi, everyone! I have been so busy for a couple weeks now and it has me seriously behind on my blogging.  I guess you could say I've had spring fever lately and it's kept me busy with all kinds of stuff.

One of my favorite things to make, regardless of what the item actually is, is something that reminds me of someone.  Food has a way of taking you to a happy place filled with love and memories of people that you have cared about.  As I have said before, there are a million ways to make biscuits and it seems that every cook has her own, unique, trademark way of doing it.  Granny's biscuits are no exception.

Granny's biscuits are one-of-a-kind and oh-so-good!

Granny's biscuits are very unique; I have never known anyone to make them the way she did, and she said that she didn't either.  As a rule, biscuits are simply a mixture of flour, baking powder, salt, milk and fat.  Granny however, simply used self-rising flour (which already includes the baking powder and salt) and buttermilk.  That's it!  And they are soo good! She claimed that she came upon making them that way accidentally as she and my grandfather (who was slowly dying of heart failure) had very little money after my grandfather could no longer work.  She said she just started leaving the fat out of the biscuits in order to conserve resources, and had no idea that she was creating a masterpiece in the process!  So, here's the recipe:

Granny's Biscuits

2 c. self-rising flour (plus more for handling)
1 c. buttermilk (approximately)
About 2-3 T. oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  In a large, cast-iron skillet (or an old-fashioned black bread tin, if you happen to have one) pour enough oil to coat the bottom of the skillet or tin. Pour off any excess. (There should be a generous amount of oil in the skillet, but you don't want any to be standing.) In a mixing bowl, pour buttermilk into flour all at once, and stir vigorously until blended.  Be careful to not over-beat.  Turn out onto generously floured surface and sprinkle with flour.  Dip hands into flour, and using index fingers, pinch off enough dough for one biscuit.  Roll gently between hands to form and then lay in skillet.  Repeat with remaining dough.  Using a spoon, coat biscuit dough individually with oil, but be careful to remove any excess oil that may run-off and pool up between biscuits. (The idea is to make sure biscuits are well-coated on all sides with oil, but not soaking in it.)  Place in oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes or until well-browned on top.  Remove immediately and serve hot.  These are especially good with homemade apple butter. 

If you're like me, and you like the crunchy part of any bread, you can also fix yourself an individual "biscuit" by using a separate skillet and patting out about 2 biscuits worth of dough in it like you would pat out a pizza crust.  It will bake up crisp and delicious!!!

The interesting thing about her biscuits is that they are crunchy on the outside (due to the oil basically frying the dough) and very moist and chewy on the inside.  I promise they are unlike any you have ever had, but if you make them right, you will be making them again.