Drop Biscuits

From personal tasting experience, biscuits can either be wonderful...or horrible. There is almost nothing better than a light, fluffy, slightly golden biscuit, either eaten plain, with butter or jam, or incorporated into a dish of biscuits and gravy. Sadly, though, I have eaten my share (usually in restaurants) of what they call biscuits...hard like a rock and usually tasteless.

Personally, I think the dough for biscuits is something that gets "hard textured" the more it is worked with. For the typical symmetrically round biscuit one must of course make the dough, roll it out, cut it with a biscuit cutter, place it on the baking sheet, and finally bake it. For the novice, this is too much working of the dough and can result in those overworked and dried out versions I have referred to as bad restaurant fare.

When it comes to baking, I have never been one for how it looks, but more importantly how it tastes. With that in mind, my favorite...and easiest...biscuit recipe is not one that is rolled out, but rather mixed and then "dropped" onto the baking sheet rather than rolling it out. It is quick and easy to make, and the results are heavenly to eat. OK, so they often resemble the Rock of Gibraltar in shape, but who cares when they are so yummy. Here, then is my recipe, which I consider relatively fool-proof.

Drop Biscuits

2 cups sifted flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/3 cup Crisco shortening
1 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 450 F.
2. Sift flour with baking powder and salt into medium sized bowl.
3. Cut shortening into flour mixture with a pastry blender until mixture is "crumbly".
4. Make a "well" in the center of the mixture. Pour milk in. Stir quickly to mix thoroughly.
5. Drop dough, by tablespoons, onto lightly greased cookie sheet.
6. Bake about 10 min, or until lightly golden brown.

Next Week: About Ingredients