Southern-Style Biscuits
Buttermilk biscuits with chocolate gravy is a southern favorite handed down for generations with roots from the Great Depression. It has been a staple food in our family for generations.If at all possible, use White Lily self-rising flour, as it is used religiously in the south for biscuit-making. If you can't find it locally, you can usually find it online for purchase.
Ingredients
Biscuits
- 2 cups White Lily self rising flour
- 2 tbsp cold shortening
- 6 tbsp cold butter cut into pieces
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 tbsp. melted butter
Chocolate Gravy
- 4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 4 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp vanilla
Cinnamon-Honey Compound Butter
- 2 sticks 1/2 lb unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 heaping tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
Instructions
Biscuits
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Put flour into a large mixing bowl. Fluff it gently and very briefly with a whisk. Add cold shortening and butter and cut into the flour with a pastry blender until pea-sized crumbs form. Make a well in the center of the mixture and pour in the buttermilk. Mix with a fork until the liquid and dry ingredients are just combined (if your dough is too stiff, add 1-2 more tbsp. buttermilk). Turn the sticky dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead 5 or 6 times and pat dough out flat with well floured hands to 1" thickness.
- Before you cut the dough into rounds, be sure that your cutter has a sharp edge. This helps them to rise accordion-style with a distinctive flat top that will brown evenly. Also, press the cutter strait down into the dough without twisting. Twisting the cutter can make the biscuit misshapen and hinder rising and it bakes.
- Cut the dough using a 3 inch round biscuit cutter for '**cat head' biscuits (you'll get about 8) or a 2-inch cutter for smaller biscuits (which yields about 12).
- Bake for 20 minutes or until starting to brown on top. You may also place under the broiler for 2 minutes to brown well, but watch the biscuits constantly to prevent burning. Remove from the oven and brush the biscuit tops with the 2 tbsp. melted butter. Serve warm with chocolate gravy or compound butter
Chocolate gravy
- In a medium sauce pan whisk together the dry ingredients. Pour in the milk and whisk vigorously to combine. Heat over medium-high until the mixture bubbles. Turn heat down to medium and stir until mixture has thickened to a gravy consistency. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Let cool slightly then transfer to a gravy boat. Serve warm over buttermilk biscuits.
Cinnamon-Honey Compound Butter
- In a medium bowl, whip all ingredients together on low speed with a hand-held mixer. Pour mixture onto a length of parchment paper and roll into a log. Wrap butter and parchment in plastic wrap and let set for 2 hours in the refrigerator. Serve on warm biscuits or yeast rolls.
Notes
If you don't have self-rising flour, add 3 teaspoons baking powder, and ½ teaspoon salt to the 2 cups of all-purpose flour called for in this recipe.
**Cat Head Biscuits - in southern slant means biscuits as big as a cat's head.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!