Cream Biscuits

I've seen the recipe for these biscuits everywhere lately.  I'm not surprised, because these are so easy and the resulting biscuits are delicious!

The recipe I used was out of Nathalie DuPree's Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking, but like I said before, if you google it, there are dozens of sites out there with recipes.

The allure of this recipe is that it only uses two ingredients- heavy cream and self rising flour.  That's it.

I had to play with the recipe a little because I am in a much drier climate than Ms. Dupree, therefore I had to use almost half again as much cream to get my dough to come together.

I put these biscuits together in about 5 minutes, including the cutting.  They baked about 12 minutes.  That's home made biscuits in about 15 minutes- crazy!

In a large bowl I mixed 2 cups of self rising flour.  I made a well in the center, then slowly poured in 1 cup of heavy cream.  After folding it in very carefully (NEVER over mix biscuit dough!), I realized I needed more cream.  I used about a half cup more.  When the dough starts to come together in one big lump, tump it out on a well floured surface.  The directions said pat it out and fold it over.  I was afraid my dough would be overworked, so I skipped that step and went right to patting it out until it was about 1/2 an inch thick.  Then I used a 2 inch biscuit cutter and cut out 14 biscuits (that included gently putting scraps back together for the last 4 biscuits)- don't twist the cutter while you punch them out or the biscuits won't rise properly.  I put them on a buttered cookie sheet and baked them at 450 degrees for 12 minutes, spinning the pan half way through.  If you want softer biscuits, crowd them together in a pan.  I wanted biscuits that were crispy on the outside.  When they come out of the oven, slather them generously with butter.  Try not to eat one standing at the oven.  I dare you!

Possible variations- you could add chives and cheddar to the dough, smoked gouda and ham, any herbs, garlic (or slather the tops with garlic butter when they come out of the oven).  I think to make an even crispier biscuit, next time I'll baste the tops with melted, salted butter before I bake them.  It doesn't matter what you do to them- just make them!