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Baking Powder Biscuits

4.2

(37)

Light-gold and crusty outside, moist and fine-textured inside.

Recipe information

  • Yield

    16 Biscuits

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
2/3 cup milk

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Preheat the oven to 425° F. Grease two 8-inch cake pans. Put the flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar in a bowl. Cut the shortening into the flour with two knives or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the milk all at once and stir just until the dough forms a ball around the fork. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board and knead 14 times. Pat until 1/2 inch thick. Cut into rounds with a 2-inch cookie cutter. Place touching each other in the cake pans and bake for 15-20 minutes.

  2. Crusty Baking Powder Biscuits.

    Step 2

    Roll biscuits to 1/4 inch thick and place 1 inch apart. Bake in a 450° F oven for 12 minutes. This will yield almost twice as many biscuits.

  3. Buttermilk Biscuits.

    Step 3

    Use 2/3 cup buttermilk instead of sweet milk and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, cutting the amount of baking powder in half, to 2 teaspoons.

  4. Cheese Biscuits.

    Step 4

    Add 1/2 cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese to the dry ingredients.

  5. Drop Biscuits.

    Step 5

    Add an additional 1/3 cup milk and drop by teaspoonfuls onto a buttered baking sheet.

Cover of The Fannie Farmer Cookbook 1996 edition.
Excerpted by permission of Knopf from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook: Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of America's Great Classic Cookbook, copyright © 1996 by Marion Cunningham. All rights reserved. Buy the full book from Amazon or Bookshop.
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