The South Shall Rise Again

I was born and raised a mid-west girl (Chicago, Chicago that toddlin' town). I've lived in the South (Oh the sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home), the Southwest (by the time I get to Phoenix) and the West (hooray for Hollywood). I'm often mistaken for an East-coaster (New York, New York), which to spite what a lot of people may say, I take as a great compliment. However, part of me has a strange draw to the deep South and I have NO idea where it comes from. Maybe it was all those years of watching Gone With the Wind on Superbowl Sunday (true story). I feel drawn to the idea of sitting on a wrap-around porch in a rocking chair, sipping iced tea with mint and watching fireflies light up the night sky. I loved fireflies as a kid - they made me happy. I don't see fireflies anymore. Where have all the fireflies gone? Oh my gosh did you know fireflies eat their mates? I just learned this recently - terrible etiquette. Oh fiddledeedee - where was I? Right - the South.

So recently I mentioned in passing to my husband that we should go on vacation to Savannah, GA. "Why" he questioned. Which is exactly what he said when "we" decided to go to Vermont and Cape Cod one year. "Because we've never been" I say. So, now we (and by we I mean I) are in the midst of planning a long weekend to Savannah. Home of the Girl Scouts (cookies!), cotton plantations, trees covered in Spanish moss (don't touch it) and some hauntingly fantastic architecture (literally haunted). And then there's always . . . food. BBQ, seafood, pecans, bourbon and (no joke) peas & carrots.  

So because I felt in a Southern mood this weekend (partially because it is so damn hot and muggy in Los Angeles it seems like the South), I decided to make biscuits, which, contrary to popular belief are fairly simple to make. What I love about biscuits is you can do so many things with them. They can be sweet, savory, eaten with berries and whipped cream or piled high with ham (covered in gravy if you are a true Southerner) for a breakfast treat. Yep, nothin' says lovin' like a biscuit topped with tastiness. 

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons sugar 
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon table salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
9 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
3/4 cup buttermilk (yogurt or sour cream will also work)

Directions:

Heat oven to 400 °F and cover baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda in large, wide bowl. Using fingertips or a pastry cutter, work butter into dry ingredients until the mixture resembles a coarse meal, Add buttermilk and stir until large, craggy clumps form. Reach hands into bowl and knead mixture briefly until it just holds together. 

Transfer dough to floured counter and pat out until 3/4-inch thick. Using a round cutter (2 inches for regular sized biscuits, 3 inches for larger ones), press straight down — twisting produces less layered sides — and transfer rounds to prepared sheet, spacing two inches apart.

Bake until biscuits are golden brown on top, about 12 to 15 minutes. Cool slightly, then serve warm, with butter/jam/berries/lemon curd/eggs/bacon/sausage or any other thing your little heart desires.

You could certainly make these biscuits with chives, black pepper, cheese - you name it. I chose this particular version because it was simple, used ingredients I had in the house at the time and could be served as savory or sweet depending on the filling so I was good to go no matter what. I chose to serve these with a fresh blueberry compote for breakfast and they were (if I do say so myself) quite scrumptious. If I were serving for dessert, I would have added some whipped cream (fresh - not the canned stuff you all know I refuse to acknowledge exists) and it would have been equally as tasty. 

Since I'm super satisfied with my breakfast of biscuits and blueberries, I think I'll go cinch myself into a hoop skirt, grab my parasol and head on out for the afternoon. Catch y'all later!