Monday, February 29, 2016

Butter My Biscuit!

A couple years ago Cash and I spent a week on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. On Sunday morning we went into Savannah (GA) for church and subsequently had lunch at Lady & Sons. As we sat there on the second floor overlooking downtown Savannah from Paula Deen's table after being blessed a beautiful Lutheran service, I literally had tears in my eyes. I looked at my dear Texas husband and said, "This makes my southern heart so happy." (Texas is the South, but y'all it's a different kind of South--it's its very own place.)

I can't think of anything I don't love about the South. I love the good food, the sayings, the many times your heart gets blessed, the religion, all of it! Now that I live in West Texas, I get the biggest kick out of the way people laugh at things I say. My sister reminded me just this weekend of the You Tube videos called Sh*t Southern Women Say. Oh my. I love it!

A few weeks ago H and I were blessed to spend a few days back in AR with my family. During that time I had my mom teach me how to make my Aunt Sherry's Buttermilk Biscuits. Y'all. Shut the front door. These are SO GOOD, SO SOUTHERN, SO EASY!!! I made them for Cash the next week when I got home, and he loved them! If I can make them, I know anyone can. So...I wanted to share with y'all the recipe and pictures. You. Will. Love. Them.

Aunt Sherry's Buttermilk Biscuits

Things You Need
cast iron skillet (I use an enamel coated one; either way works)
buttermilk
self-rising flour (NOT all purpose)
a tiny bit of oil

The HEB brand flour was in the cutest bag!
Basically, you will mix the flour and buttermilk together until you get the right, sticky consistency. I started with a 1:1 ratio, but I ended up adding much more flour. Next time I will probably start with 2 cups flour and 1 cup buttermilk and go from there. You will get the hang of how much you need depending on the size of your skillet. I realized I needed about twice as much of the mixture as I had made. Although it worked just fine, I had room in my skillet for more biscuits.

It's also a good idea to start your grease at this time. You want barely enough oil to cover the bottom of your skillet. Put the stove on about medium to medium-low to get it warm enough.

the consistency

One tip Aunt Sherry gave to my mom was not to stir or whisk it too much. Less is more in this case. 

Once you have your mixture, put flour on a plate. (This is how my mom taught me, and it made it so easy since the mixture is super sticky.) Use a spatula to gather the mixture and basically wipe off the mixture from the spatula onto the side of the plate. 


Once you have your "biscuits" covering the edge of the plate, use the spatula to roll them one at a time into the flour. Again, the mixture is super sticky, so the spatula just keeps you a little cleaner. 



After your cover each biscuit with flour, use your hands (the biscuit should not be sticky at this point) to make the biscuit more into a ball. I just toss it lightly back and forth. As Aunt Sherry said, don't mess with them too much! So, just a couple tosses back and forth should do the trick. 



Thanks to my gal pal Leslie for my apron!

Drop each biscuit into the skillet. It's good to squish them in there real tight. I had way too much room left over in mine. You also want to dab the biscuit into grease and then flip it over to cook on its first side. 

get a little grease on one side, flip it over, and let it cook

covered and cooking up some goodness
Turn the fire down to medium-low or low and cover. Check them frequently, and once the bottom is browned, flip them over. Cover those suckers back up and keep your fire on low. In no time you'll have beautiful homemade buttermilk biscuits. Your honey will love you!

halfway there!
 On top of my husband loving these biscuits, it made me feel very proud to be able to cook something so southern, so reminiscent of home. We finished the meal with some bacon, sausage patties from rams we killed on an anniversary trip, and eggs from my parents' farm. It doesn't get better than breakfast for dinner (and a cheap one to boot)!

I hope you enjoy these southern biscuits from my Aunt Sherry as much as we did!

Keep wandering...
Avery*Jane

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