Food Friday: Buttermilk Biscuits

Introducing a new feature on this blog ... "Food Friday". Each Friday (for as long as I'm amused by this) I will post a recipe. This will accomplish two things: 1) eventually I will have all my recipes available on this blog for myself to access and search - so much easier than my disorganized recipe book; 2) others will have access to some tried and true recipes.

Today's Recipe is for:

Buttermilk Biscuits
3 C flour
2 T sugar
1 T (rounded) baking powder
1 1/2 t salt
1/3 C shortening
1 C buttermilk
water as needed (approx. 1/3 to 1/2 C)

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add shortening and crumble. Stir in buttermilk and enough water to make a moist (but not runny) dough. You can either roll these out and cut them into circles or spoon drop them with a large tablespoon. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes.

Variations:

Cheddar Cheese Biscuits - add 1/2 C of shredded cheddar cheese to the dry ingredients.

Garlic Biscuits - add 2 t of minced garlic just before the buttermilk -OR- sprinkle biscuits with garlic powder or salt before baking.

Parmesan Biscuits - sprinkle parmesan cheese on top of biscuits before baking.

Cinnamon Raisin Biscuits - add 1/2 C of raisins to dry ingredients. After mixing the dough lightly fold in a mixture of 1 1/2 t cinnamon and 1/2 C brown sugar. This mixture should not be mixed all the way in but should be "marbled" throughout. You can glaze with a powder sugar glaze or serve "as is."

Blueberry Biscuits - After mixing the dough, lightly fold in 1/2 C of blueberries. These may be glazed as well.

NOTE: when making these for just Phil and me, I will third the recipe and it is just the right amount.