Buttermilk Biscuits and Strawberry Jam

Last week Kathy Littlefield and I made strawberry jam. Actually, Kathy made it and I helped. The strawberries are so red that if I was served them in a sauce or jam at a restaurant I would assume there was food coloring in them! And SO SWEET! Anyway, I was inspired to make buttermilk biscuits to go with the jam :) (btw, Kathy has also made jalapeno jelly and orange marmalade, among other delicious things. I'm going to start inviting myself over to her house more often...)

Buttermilk Biscuits - recipe found in Fannie Farmer Cookbook. It's the same as a Baking Powder Biscuit recipe, but cut the powder in half and add 1/4 of that new amount of baking soda, substituting buttermilk for regular milk (ex - 4 Tbsp powder becomes 2 Tbsp powder plus 1/2 Tbsp soda).

In lieu of a food processor or pastry knife, I used a whisk to combine the shortening/butter with the flour/dry ingredients. It worked pretty well, although if your recipe calls for cold butter this would be difficult. Hopefully I'll get a food processor at some point in my life!



Then, after adding the buttermilk, the recipe instructs you to knead the dough 14 times (folding it over on itself to make the layers that become flaky buttery goodness). 14 times worked pretty well the first time I made them - they rose nicely and were fairly flaky. But when I made them yesterday morning they didn't rise as much and were kind of lumpy. Right around 10 folds the texture of the dough started to change. My plan for next time is to fold the dough until the texture starts to change and then stop, whenever that is.



I used a square cookie cutter yesterday. I was excited that it wasted less dough, so you have fewer "lump biscuits" with the trimmings, and more of them fit on the pan because there was less wasted space. I know, I'm a nerd, but it was exciting to me nonetheless.






I packaged some of them up to take to my friend Amy in the hospital who just delivered her baby Thursday morning. She was induced at 7, had an epidural shortly after 9, and baby Holton was born at 9:15 (before the epidural took effect... oh boy!). Amy's doing GREAT, baby Holton is adorable, and the two older sisters are already calling him "my baby" and doting on him! Poor daddy has less hair than the baby, lol :) Congratulations Shale and Amy!








I also took some to Kathy, for her to try with the strawberry jam. Her husband, Dirk, appreciated the square biscuits for the same space-saving qualities that I did. Thanks, Dirk, for not thinking I'm crazy!





Enjoy :) :) :)