Biscuit

Although the ingredients in this recipe may seem unusual, I urge you to give it a try. With their Mediterranean notes of fennel and olive oil, these biscuits taste festive and exotic.

These biscuits are amazing served warm straight out of the oven. Eat them savory or sweet.

These are especially good with soups containing beets, cabbage, or strong greens.

These little biscuits pair especially well with mild-flavored soups featuring cauliflower or broccoli, but they are compatible with most any kind of vegetable soup.

These offbeat little griddle biscuits pair well with bean soups, purees, and soups that feature root vegetables.

I’m keen on freestone peaches. I’m also keen on this shortcake, which comes together quickly. The simple recipe is a great showcase for just about any summer fruits and the little zip of ginger adds a nice dimension.

Aunt Elsa always had a huge container of biscuit mix in her freezer, so whenever she needed biscuits she would scoop some out, add water or buttermilk, and have a batch baking in just a few minutes. When I was a kid, it seemed like magic. I was an adult when she brought me my first container of mix and I realized that this magic powder was in fact her own version of instant biscuit mix! Sometimes I mix up 3 or 4 times the recipe and store it in the freezer so I, too, can make magic biscuits. Tender and flaky, they are best straight out of the oven. The baked biscuits don’t store well, but I’ve rarely had any leftovers!

By fifth grade, I’d taken to pocketing my lunch money and starving through the day so I could afford to spend the afternoons in the air-conditioned luxury of the local KFC and postpone the sweltering walk home. I’d buy a biscuit, fashion a “free” lemonade (1 cup ice water, 2 packets lemon juice, 27 or so sugar packets), swing my Capezios up onto the banquette of a comfy booth, and bask in my own genius. I don’t know that the eventual walk was any better, but I do know I started a trend among other ponytailed rebels. With the biscuit bar set pretty high and KFC no longer an option or a preference, I assigned myself the challenge of bettering it with my allergy-friendly pantry. It’s not uncommon these days for people to taste the biscuits at BabyCakes NYC and say, “These are better than KFC!”—and when they do, I execute a victory pirouette and shotgun a frosty glass of agave lemonade (page 133).

Pat: Momma Daisy served these biscuits every Sunday with homemade preserves, scrambled eggs, and bacon. There would also be sorghum molasses, for drizzling over the warm buttered biscuits, whenever she could get some from her uncles in the country. Momma Daisy made everything from scratch back in those days, because it was the most economical way, there weren’t a lot of prepared mixes, and that’s simply how things were done. These biscuits were always mixed by hand, and my mother, Lorine, remembers seeing Momma Daisy work and work and work that dough with her very capable fingers. Some biscuit recipes scare you away from overmixing the dough, but in this recipe that’s how the flaky layers are created. Momma Daisy always used lard for these biscuits, but these days my momma uses a combination of butter and vegetable shortening—feel free to use either. The latter is better for you, but the former creates the fluffiest biscuits around.

Buttermilk biscuits are a classic recipe that combines steam leavening and chemical leaveners to optimum effect. They are easily stirred together and rise dramatically in the oven. Slathered with cold butter and drizzled with cane syrup or honey, fresh biscuits are an easy and indulgent way to get your day started. Actually, they are pretty wonderful at any time of day. Buttermilk biscuits on the dinner table bring smiles to people’s faces, and split open and covered with fresh fruit and sweet cream, they are a treat to remember.

Being a kid from South Carolina, I always had fresh biscuits growing up. This recipe is as close to my grandmother’s as I could get without having a spiritual adviser. They’re big, fat, and light as a cloud, just like I remember them. The peach and rosemary spoon fruit adds a little contemporary twist.

Biscuits have been an American favorite since the early 1800s. Anything so well known has as many variations as there are enthusiasts. My favorite recipe includes an egg for lightness. As expected, when they’re baked in the convection oven, they bake more quickly at a lower temperature.

A great all-purpose biscuit recipe.

"Really good fried chicken and really good biscuits—together, they're like Wonder Twin powers," says chef John Currence, owner of Big Bad Breakfast in Oxford, MS. For a no-fry, old-school treat, split biscuits and smother with Sausage Gravy . Trust us, you'll be full.

This is a very old recipe found in many books, including the 1964 edition of Joy of Cooking. It is a snap to make, uncomplicated with few ingredients, yet producing a stunningly tender and fluffy biscuit. There are two Rachels in our lives—my husband’s granddaughter, Rachel Bass, and co-author Cynthia’s daughter, Rachel Graubart. Novices, we asked them to test recipes we hope will be easy for anyone. Both gave these flying colors for both ease and taste. Here's what Gena Berry said about her similar adaptation of this recipe: A respectable homemade biscuit is an essential part of the Southern table, and this scandalously simple recipe makes turning out the perfect biscuit a snap. This recipe breaks all the rules of southern biscuit-making; there’s no shortening to cut in, and you don't even roll out the dough. The results are remarkable and even a novice can turn out fluffy, perfect biscuits in minutes. Would a respectable Southern lady bend the rules, defy convention and use sneaky shortcuts all in the name of turning out a hot, homemade biscuit? You better believe it!

These skillet-fried biscuits are a little sturdier than many other biscuits in order to hold the fresh berries intact. The butter bumps up the flavor as well. When they are fried, they remind me of the blueberries we picked early one morning as Girl Scouts and made into pancakes—a culinary highlight of my childhood. But they are very special baked as well. Either way, they’re a winner.

The method of making biscuits in a traditional wooden bowl, without a recipe, was traditionally practiced by home cooks all over the South. A sack of flour was emptied into the bowl, a well was made in the flour, and then the number of biscuits desired was miraculously shaped by the additon of fat and liquid. The remaining flour mixture was then sifted and returned to the bowl, covered with a tea towl or flour sack, or to the sack itself until the biscuits were made again later in the day. Alas, this process is so intimidating to novice cooks, until they get the "feel," that I have to caution the novice to try another recipe first. Please come back and try these after practicing with easier versions, because this version makes biscuits the way they are supposed to be—meltingly light, tantalizingly tender, flaky, moist—and unforgettable. I have never had a better biscuit than Kate's.

Bobby loves biscuits soaked in gravy, and he loves cake soaked in berry juice, so you can bet he’s always loved Mama’s shortcake. Our version ups the ante with some fluffy pink strawberry whipped cream that is so pretty that you just know it’s going to taste like heaven.

When I was a little girl, making biscuits was one of my favorite things to do because they were so easy and so delicious. Not until I began my experiments with gluten-free baking did I realize the gift my mother and grandmother had passed on to me in the process: They taught me that in order in making the very best biscuits, it was all about the touch. The less you touched the dough, the better the biscuits. If you over-kneaded the dough, the biscuits would be much drier and would turn to stone twice as fast. So as you are kneading your dough, remember less is more, and you will have those moist, mouthwatering biscuits you've been dreaming about. Any of the suggested accompaniments you choose will sing atop this Southern classic.