This is the sort of recipe you need in your arsenal. It’s only a couple of ingredients, just takes a few minutes of effort, but the results will blow people away. There is something about having a warm, buttery biscuit, slathered with jam, that makes the perfect Sunday morning. The method used here is a great stepping stone for other pastries such as scones or pie crust. It’s sort of a gateway drug for the pastry world. And once mastered, you can start to play with savory additions like cheese, chives, and bacon; or go towards the sweet side with berries, or fresh peaches.
Start by turning your oven on to 400F, then line a sheet pan with lightly sprayed parchment paper. Then you’ll need a small food processor. If using a larger food processor, double or triple the recipe.
- ¾ cup self rising flour*
- ¼ cup butter, cold
- 3oz cold milk (which is 6 tablespoons, about ⅓ cup)
*You can buy self rising flour, and some people already have it in their pantry. But if you don’t, I’d rather you didn’t go out and buy it. Instead just mix ¾ of a cup all purpose flour with 1 teaspoon baking powder, and ½ teaspoon salt.
Cut up the butter into small chunks. Place the flour and butter in the bowl of a small food processor and pulse a few times until it looks like sand and you don’t see any large chunks of butter. If you don’t have a food processor just use your hands to “rub” the butter into smaller and smaller pieces.
Add half the milk and pulse. Then add the remaining half and pulse again. The mixture should pull together into a solid mass. Pulse a few more times if needed.
Remove the blade, then use either your hands, a spoon, or an ice cream scoop to form 4-8 biscuits. There is no need to roll them out, or use a special cutter. Just grab hunks of dough and drop them on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake the little ones for 15min at 400F, larger ones take about 20min. The tops will stay relatively pale because we didn’t bother to brush them with egg wash, but that’s okay — it’s what’s inside that counts.
Cut them open while still warm and serve with a little fresh jam. I personally find they are perfectly buttery, but that shouldn’t stop you from adding a little more butter if you so desire, because butter is awesome. You can also freeze the uncooked dough. Just let them thaw a little while the oven pre-heats.
Enjoy!