Drop Biscuits

Makes ~12 big biscuits.

• 4 oz (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
• 1.5 cups (190g) all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• ¾ cup whole milk

Optional flavourings:

• 2 to 4 oz grated cheese (large grate on a box grater is fine)
• Garlic powder to taste
• Pepper to taste
• Anything that makes sense: eg sliced green onion
• (When I say “to taste”, I really mean “until the dough smells good”)

Preheat oven to 375F. Like a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Add any dry spices at this stage.

Toss butter in the dry ingredients to coat. Working quickly so it doesn’t melt, using your fingers (unless you’re a fancy person who owns a pastry blender) rub/cut the butter into the flour until it’s incorporated and the mixture resembles coarse meal. If it starts to get melty, pop it in the freezer for a couple minutes. (You can also do this stage in the food processor and pulse until you get the desired consistency, but then you have to clean the food processor.)

Add any larger, moister additions at this stage (grated cheese, chopped herbs etc) and stir to get everything coated and incorporated.

Add the milk and stir to form the dough. (The original recipe recommends using a fork to keep them tender; I don’t think it matters as much since I always make these with cheese.) It should be pretty thick- you want it to drop into lumps- but without any dry flour remaining in the bottom of the bowl. If it’s too dry, you can add a spoonful or two of milk at a time ot achieve the desired consistency.

I make these pretty big- I think the scoop I use is about 2.8 tbsp. With cheese added and at that size, the recipe makes about 12 biscuits that take something in the range of 25 minutes to cook.