Recently when we were having some guests over to eat, I was having an internal debate about whether to make biscuits or cornbread to serve with the chili I was cooking. Big life decisions, I know. But I really couldn’t choose, mostly because I wanted to eat them both. Finally, as dinner time crept closer, I thought, why not combine the best of both?
This recipe does just that. We didn’t have a chance to take pictures before our guests came, so I told Trevor we would take them after if there were enough left. After sampling one pre-dinner, Trevor told me he was going to do his best to make sure there were none by the end of dinner, just so I would have to make them again. But really, this is one of the best biscuit recipes I have tried. The key to these, and really any biscuit recipe, is to keep the butter cold. The little flecks of butter you see throughout the dough will make it flaky, and you don’t want those to melt, so be sure to leave time for chilling the dough.
- 1⅓ cups all-purpose flour
- ⅔ cup cornmeal
- 2½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. Add cold, cubed butter, and using your hands or a pastry cutter, work it into the flour until it's in even, pea-sizes pieces. Gently stir in the buttermilk. Turn the dough out onto a very lightly floured work surface. Form dough into a round. The dough will be crumbly, but should come together. Wrap in plastic wrap then place in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
- Turn the dough out onto the lightly floured surface. Pat the dough into a ½-inch-thick rectangle. Fold the dough in thirds (like a letter). Pat the dough into a 5 by 8-inch rectangle about 1 inch thick. Use a 2 inch round cutter to cut out biscuits to make 6 biscuits, and put biscuits on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake until the tops are just beginning to lightly brown, about 12 minutes. Cool slightly on a rack before serving.
Source: Adapted from Food Network.
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