The Biscuit Method: Drop Biscuits — KittyDuck Cakes and Cookies (2024)

Disclaimer: If you watch the video above, don’t think that the recipe below is the only one you can make. You can make any product using the biscuit method!

Garlic Cheddar Biscuits Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of butter, cut into chunks

• 2 cups of flour

• 1 Tablespoon of baking powder

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1 Tablespoon of garlic powder

• 2 tsp salt

  See Also

  Fats and liquids in biscuitsMixing Methods for Baking | Pastry Shop in Lebanon | AnnandaleThe Biscuit Method for Mixing Biscuits, Scones, and Pastries - The Prepared Pantry Blog | Recipes, Articles, and MoreThe Importance of the Mixing Methods In Your Baking -

• 1 cup buttermilk

• 1 cup of shredded sharp cheddar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.

2. Mix all dry ingredients together

3. Add cubed butter to dry ingredients and cut into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender, forks, or your hands. You are done with this step when the dry mix with the butter looks like cornmeal. you are looking to break up the fat into smaller pieces. (see notes below for details)

4. Stir in buttermilk until barely combined.

5. Spoon on to a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

6. Brush with additional butter if desired once it comes out of the oven.

As I have written before, my philosophy for my blog and my YouTube channel is to teach techniques and not recipes. This “recipe” is a perfect example of this. I was looking for a recipe for the Red Lobster Biscuits and there are a ton out there. On reading these recipes, many called for melted butter. I hate to call out others on the internet, but this is simply wrong. If it is called a biscuit, in the U.S. at least, it should use the biscuit method. The biscuit method is outlined below:

1. Mix together all dry ingredients

   See Also

   BEST Homemade Biscuits - Kristine's Kitchen

2. Cut in solid fat to dry mix (butter, margarine, shortening, lard) with a pastry blender, forks, or fingers until it looks like cornmeal (meaning the fat is broken up between the flour particles)

3. Add liquid and barely mix

4. Place on pan and bake

   • you may be rolling these out, cutting and placing, or just dropping onto the pan.

Hints and reasoning for the biscuit method

• If you melt the butter instead of working it in, you are eliminating the chance for flaky biscuits. I don’t doubt that some people can get flaky “biscuits” by melting, but they are not technically biscuits at that point. That would be the muffin method. The risk of following biscuit recipes written like that is that you risk a flat and dense biscuit and no one wants that.

• When I am working in the fat, I use my fingers and not a pastry blender or forks. I have cold hands, however. If you have very hot hands, you may melt the butter by accident, so I recommend using a fork or pastry blender to break up the chunks of butter. You can also grate frozen butter into the mix and that works very well too. You will still need to work it in a bit, but it cuts down a lot on your cut-in time.

• I do not own a pastry blender. I will not own a pastry blender. You will not see an affiliate link for a pastry blender. The pastry blender I used in my kitchen equipment video, I borrowed from school and got back to school as soon as possible. I strongly recommend you using forks or fingers to cut in the fat.

• Do NOT substitute regular milk for buttermilk. At least not regular milk alone. If you don’t have buttermilk, for each cup, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to a liquid measuring cup and add enough milk to equal your correct measure. Stir and let it sit for a minute or two. It will thicken slightly and may curdle a bit, but the acid in the vinegar or lemon juice will react with the baking soda in the recipe to create bubbles and therefore help the biscuit rise. Just like the volcanos that you may have built for a science fair.

• Baking powder contains an acid and a base. It also contains ingredients that help it rise once when you add liquid and another time when you heat it up. You can substitute baking soda and cream of tartar, but if you do, bake it quickly. You will only get volume when you add liquid so they will not have as much oven rise as traditional baking powder.

• Additions to biscuits like cheese or ham bits have fat in them. If you add too much, they will dramatically affect the texture of your recipe. If you want cheese biscuits, follow a cheese biscuit recipe rather than just adding cheese to a regular biscuit recipe.

• Once you add liquid, mix as little as possible. Liquid activates the gluten in the flour and so at that point the more you mix, the tougher your final product will be.

• Once you add liquid, use a wooden spoon or a dough whisk. A regular whisk will become a dough club if you use one. I sometimes use a regular whisk for dry ingredients, but not for final mixing.

• You don’t need to sift the flour for biscuits. In the past, flour had lots of clumps, but now that is not a concern. Sifting is a great way to mix dry ingredients though.

Products using the biscuit method:

• Biscuits (duh…)

• Scones

• Pie Dough

• Shortbread

This method, while a bit hard to master, is definitely approachable if you follow directions. Watch the YouTube video above for some visuals on what each step should look like. Don’t be overwhelmed by how many steps are ingredients there are. Learn a method, practice it, and improve your skills. You’ve got this!

Let us know in the comments below what biscuit method recipes you try!

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