Biscuit Recipe! Welcome to the BEST ever homemade southern biscuit recipe. These biscuits come together with few ingredients and only about 15 minutes of your time. Perfect for slathering with butter, honey, jams, or covering with a spoonful of sausage gravy. Get ready to ditch the store bought biscuits because these are so easy to make at home and about 1000x better than anything you can buy!
Homemade Biscuits
How to make Biscuits:
The Ingredients needed to make homemade biscuits:
- Freeze your butter. This recipe requires COLD butter. To ensure that it’s nice and cold, just place a stick of butter in the freezer at least 20 minutes before you plan to make the biscuits. If you’re planning ahead you can place the butter in the freezer earlier.
- Mix dry ingredients. Stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Mix with a fork to make sure the ingredients are well combined.
- Grate the butter. This will make sure the butter is nicely dispersed throughout the biscuits creating a soft and tender bite. If the butter is too cold to grate from leaving in the freezer for a long time, just let it sit out for a couple minutes to warm slightly then grate. We want the butter as cold as possible. I find it best to leave the wrapper on one end to hold the stick while I grate, this helps prevent the butter from softening too much while in my hands.
- Mix butter with the dry ingredients. Use your hands for this. The best advise I ever learned in regards to biscuits comes from Alton Brown. He said that he was never able to replicate his grandmother’s biscuits, until he watched her closely and realized that the arthritis in her hands was actually part of the method. Her hands were not able to be forceful when working with the biscuit dough. Be gentle.
- Add the cream. Ok. Yes I use cream in my biscuits. You can use buttermilk, I prefer cream. I don’t know..maybe the extra fats in the cream work some magic, but I get the most tender, soft biscuits ever when I use cream. Gently combine the dough together. I still use my hands for this. Messy. Yes. But again, biscuit making comes down mostly to the method.
How to make the BEST homemade biscuits:
- Press the dough out to about 3/4 inch thick. When you remove the dough from the bowl it will be crumbly, it’s ok. Just keep pressing the dough together gently and press it out with your fingertips into a rectangular shape about 12 inches by 6 inches, and 3/4 of an inch thick. Then fold the dough over. Add sprinkles of flour as needed to your work surface or the dough if it’s too sticky. Continue doing this until you have folded the dough over 4-5 times. This is called laminating, and creates the layers in the biscuits.
- Cut biscuits out. Brush with cream. Bake. I know, most recipes say to brush with butter before baking, I don’t feel that did much, but a quick brush with some cream helps give the tops a nice texture while they bake. I don’t the reasoning, but it’s another bit of magic.
- Brush with melted butter. Serve. After baking, brush with some melted butter, and eat up! These biscuits are best when served warm and out of the oven.
Can I make Biscuit dough ahead of time?
This particular dough can’t be made completely ahead of time. What you can do to save some time if needed is mix together the dry ingredients. You can also grate and add the butter. Then mix this together. Cover with some plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator. This will keep the butter cold. Then when you are ready to make the biscuits you can mix in the cream and continue with making the actual biscuits.
How do I make flakey Biscuits?
Making flakey layers in the biscuits comes down to the method. Pressing the dough out into a rectangle, then folding the dough over creates a layer. Doing this 4-5 times creates all the layers throughout the dough. Be gentle with the dough, use your fingertips not the heel of your palm, and don’t use a rolling pin. When you cut the biscuits out you will see the layers, as the biscuits bake the layers will stay and you will be able to easily split the biscuit in half and enjoy all those soft, tender layers.
Most Important Tips for this Biscuit Recipe:
- Keep the butter cold. Make sure to freeze the butter before handling it to grate. This helps keep it cold.
- Be gentle with the dough. Again, remember the advise of Alton Brown who watched his grandma make biscuits with her arthritic hands (as mentioned above). The softer touch you have with the dough, the softer and more tender your biscuits will be.
- Don’t use a rolling pin, press the dough out with your hands. Use your fingertips, not the heel of your palm. Your fingers are more gentle.
- After you cut the dough into the biscuits, you can’t just press together the leftover dough and cut more biscuits. Due to the layers we formed, your biscuits will come out all wonky. You will need to gently knead the dough, then press it out and create the layers again.
- It’s best to bake all the biscuits together at once, as quickly as you can, so that the butter doesn’t warm up too much. After you cut out the first batch, place the try in the fridge to keep the biscuits cold while you cut out the next batch. Then bake all together.
Can I make these Buttermilk Biscuits?
Yes! Keep everything else the same, except use buttermilk in the recipe!
Tools used in this recipe (affiliate links):
- Cheese grater
- Glass mixing bowls
- Measuring Spoons
- Baking Sheet
- Biscuit Cutting Set (I use the 2.5 inch cutter)
Other recipes you may like:
Sausage Jalapeno Buttermilk Biscuits
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Best Homemade Southern Biscuits!
Biscuit Recipe! Welcome to the BEST ever homemade southern biscuit recipe. These biscuits come together with few ingredients and only about 15 minutes of your time. Perfect for slathering with butter, honey, jams, or covering with a spoonful of sausage gravy. Get ready to ditch the store bought biscuits because these are so easy to make at home and about 1000x better than anything you can buy!
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold
- 1 cup heavy cream, can sub with half and half, whole milk, or buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon cream (for the tops)
- 1 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
- Freeze your butter. This recipe requires COLD butter. To ensure that it's nice and cold, just place a stick of butter in the freezer at least 20 minutes before you plan to make the biscuits. If you're planning ahead you can place the butter in the freezer earlier.
- Preheat oven to 425℉. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and set aside.
- Mix dry ingredients. Stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Mix with a fork to make sure the ingredients are well combined.
- Grate the butter. If the butter is too cold to grate from leaving in the freezer for a long time, just let it sit out for a couple minutes to warm slightly then grate. We want the butter as cold as possible. I find it best to leave the wrapper on one end to hold the stick while I grate, this helps prevent the butter from softening too much while in my hands.
- Mix butter with the dry ingredients. Use your hands for this. Be gentle
- Add the cream. Gently combine the dough together. I still use my hands for this. Messy. Yes. But again, biscuit making comes down mostly to the method.
- Sprinkle clean work surface with a small amount of flour to prevent the dough from sticking, remove the dough from the bowl and place on the work surface. When you remove the dough from the bowl it will be crumbly, it's ok. Just keep pressing the dough together gently and press it out with your fingertips into a rectangular shape about 12 inches by 6 inches, and 3/4 of an inch thick.
- Fold the dough over. Add sprinkles of flour as needed to your work surface or the dough if it's too sticky. Continue doing this until you have folded the dough over 4-5 times. This is called laminating, and creates the layers in the biscuits.
- Cut biscuits out. I use a 2.5 inch biscuit cutter, you can use any size you prefer. This is the set that I use (affiliate link) Place the cut out biscuits on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- With the remaining dough, you can make additional biscuits. I typically have to press out my dough twice. Getting the dough to about a 3/4 of an inch thickness I can cut out 6 biscuits. To make the next batch, gently knead the dough back together. Then start the laminating process over again (folding the dough) then cut the remaining 6 biscuits. During this time keep the already cut biscuits in the fridge to stay cold.
- Brush with cream. Use the additional 1 tablespoon of cream to brush onto the tops of the biscuits.
- Bake. Bake between 13-15 minutes. Keep an eye on them, when the tops are golden brown to your preference then remove them. Once they start browning it goes quick. So keep an eye on them.
- Brush with melted butter. Serve. After baking, brush with some melted butter, and eat up! These biscuits are best when served warm and out of the oven.
Video
Nutrition
Serving: 1, Calories: 170kcal, Carbohydrates: 16g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 10g, Saturated Fat: 6g, Sodium: 122mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 1g
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This is a fantastic recipe, great directions, that yields deliciously tender, flaky, buttery biscuits!
Question, Have you ever mixed, cut, then frozen uncooked biscuits on a tray for freezer storage and baking at a later date?
Hi Karen! I’m so glad you like the biscuit recipe! And I haven’t tried freezing these particular biscuits, however, biscuit dough is one of those things that is great to freeze! Lay them on the baking sheet to freeze overnight, then remove to a freezer safe container. They can be stored for up to 3 months. Then when ready to bake, remove the biscuits to a baking sheet and bake, increase the time 5-10 minutes if baking from frozen. I hope that helps!
Thank you for your reply. I’ll give freezing your recipe a try!
This is a fantastic recipe, great directions, that yields deliciously tender, flaky, buttery biscuits!
Question, Have you ever mixed, cut, then frozen uncooked biscuits on a tray for freezer storage and baking at a later date?
I made these awhile back and were so good. Way better than store bought and better for you without the added trans fats.
These are healthy fats that our bodies can use. (Hence; Grandmoms recipes) are always best. Fewer ingredients. Easy to make. Yes, just keep the butter cold. It helps to make them rise when the cold butter pops inside the biscuits when added to a pre-heated oven. Want to make them now but out of parchment paper. So need to get savy with keeping the dough cold while baking a few on a small cookie sheet.
I use to make sausage and biscuits for my dad when young. I did not realize how easy making the biscuits were! They make the recipe taste a million times better. Melt in your mouth Heavenly good.
Thank you for this recipe! Just the memory of how good these biscuits were, is a happier time and making me hungry. : ) Have a wonderful day!
Thank you so much for the kind words Rita!
I made this delicious recipe for biscuits!!! I used half and half and know they would be really fabulous with heavy cream and will do that next time. I grated my frozen butter in the cuisinart. It took 3-4 seconds and kept butter colder than if I hand grated. I popped it in the fridge while I cleaned the cuisinart quickly mixed up dry ingredients, added butter then slowly added cream. In about 2 min. I had soft pliable dough, pressed it out with my hands, cut biscuits and popped them in the oven for 14 min.. YUMMMMM!!!
So glad you enjoyed them Rosalind!
I was so excited to try this and then the biscuits came out very flat – not puffed up at all! Reading back over the recipe, I believe I followed it, but maybe I’m overlooking something? Any advice?
I’m so sorry Catherine! The usual culprit when biscuits come out flat is that the fat/butter isn’t cold enough or the oven isn’t hot enough. If you were working in a warm kitchen and the biscuit dough wasn’t cold enough when it started baking this can happen. Or if the oven wasn’t preheated completely and hot enough to blast them as soon as they reached the oven. Next time, you can chill the cut out biscuits in the fridge or freezer for at least 15-30 minutes before baking to see if that helps.
OH. MY. GOODNESS! WOW! These biscuits are to die for! The best I’ve ever had. And I’ve done a lot of biscuit recipes. So soft and tender. And they melted in my mouth. Even my 1 year old who doesn’t usually touch biscuits loved them. Thank you so much for sharing! Orient have cream so I mixed milk with melted butter and that worked great!
I had a bad start to my day off and decided to bake. I came across this recipe and they are by far the highest biscuits I’ve ever made. This made my day so much better!
I used two whole sticks of butter, plus one cup of whipping cream with one beaten egg. I then folded over the dough five times, gently with my fingers only, into a 6×8 shape and then placed in my freezer on a small cutting board for fifteen minutes. Also, Have found that cutting the sticks of butter in half and then in half again, and then making small cubes of butter, and then placing in the freezer for an hour, makes much more fluffier biscuits. Also, instead of the circular shaped biscuits,I cut them in square shapes, so as not to spend time to allow he butter to warm up, while I had to reshape the leftover dough again.
When you fold the dough over, do you roll it will a rolling pin, or press it down with your hands?
I always just use my hands! I want to be gentle as possible with the dough, this is what helps it to be soft and flakey.
So, I was wondering about the 1/2 cup of butter. Do you mean 1/2 cup before grating (which is 1 stick). Or 1/2 after grating?
Hi Kim! It’s 1/2 cup before grating.
Wanting to make these, but wondering about the grated butter. Which thickness do you use? Thank you
Hi Marsha! I use the large size grater. Let me know how they turn out!
Thank you for sharing this recipe! They are delicious!
These are the best biscuits ever! The whole family agreed. I will definitely be making this recipe again.
So glad you enjoyed! Thanks Misty!
Oh my woooooorrrrrddddd. I am so excited to try this recipe. I’ve never been able to master biscuits like my gramma made them. But I never did have a recipe or any of these tips for making them. Saving this to try some Saturday am. Thanks!