Simple Buttermilk Drop Biscuits

My husband loves these biscuits, and I love them because they’re easy to make. No needing to delicately work cold butter into the flour, no rolling and folding and rolling the dough, no fussing with cutting out perfectly round biscuits. While I’m sure biscuits made the good old fashioned way are amazing, these are extremely tasty, buttery and tender biscuits that are a cinch to put together. Go ahead and throw out your box of Bisquick – you won’t need it any more!

The recipe calls for buttermilk, which I rarely have on hand, but I substitute powdered buttermilk. I always have that in my fridge so I can whip up these biscuits or vanilla buttermilk cupcakes or whatever else needs buttermilk on a moment’s notice. The kind I use is in a canister and you can find it in the baking isle at the grocery store. America’s Test Kitchen did a taste test on buttermilk vs. powdered buttermilk vs. regular milk soured with vinegar, and while fresh buttermilk came out on top, the powdered version was a close second. Regular milk soured with vinegar, while it will work in a pinch, didn’t have the same flavor profile and the taste testers through it tasted flat.

Don’t forget to brush the biscuits with melted butter after they’re done baking – that’s the best part! 😀

Simple Drop Biscuits

From America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book

Makes 12

2 Cups (10 ounces) all-purpose flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk, chilled

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled, plus extra for brushing

1. Adjust oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 475 degrees. LIne a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt together in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, stir the chilled buttermilk ad melted butter together until the butter forms small clumps. Stir the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture with a rubber spatula until just incorporated and the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
3. Using a greased 1/4 cup measure scoop out and drop mounds of dough onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake until the tops are golden brown and crisp, 12 to 14 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking.
4. Brush the baked biscuits with extra melted butter, transfer to a wire rack and let cool 5 minutes. Serve warm.