I’ve always had issues with making biscuits. They never turned out quite like I wanted them. Not fluffy enough. Not light and tall and delicious.
My hubby can make some pretty delicious biscuits but I never could get them right. I think his secret was the cold butter. He’d spend the time it took to cut that cold, hard butter into the dry ingredients and then take the even more time it took to gently mix the liquids in and not over mix.
I tend to excel more at things I can throw together quickly and don’t have to be extremely careful with. When it involves taking a lot of time, moving slowly, and being patient, I don’t do so well 😀
About a year ago all that changed and I learned to love making biscuits when biscuits were the thing needed to round out a meal. I found the best biscuits ever.
My Mom gave me a Country Living magazine she was finished with and there was a biscuit recipe in it and for some reason (I can’t remember at all now what I was thinking) I read the recipe. It contained lard. Remember my pie crust? The secret to that always turning out for me and tasting so much better than any other pie crust is the lard. I’m convinced of it. So I had to try those biscuits. 
They turned out just like I thought biscuits should! Not only were they easy to make but they were yummy and fluffy and tall and light and airy! I loved them. The lard won again 🙂
I didn’t have all the spices the original recipe called for so I left them out. The first batch was just basic biscuits. Since then I’ve started adding cheddar cheese to them and a bit of garlic. Heavenly!
They break open just like a biscuit should. No slicing these open, just gently pull apart.
Fresh and hot from the oven – and yes, I baked them in my cast iron skillet – I think that makes them taste better too – the original recipe did recommend that.
Biscuits hot from the oven with real butter – comfort food.
I’m sharing my version of the recipe. The original can be found here.
I use a clean glass to cut my biscuits as I can never find my biscuit cutter. I try to keep the thickness of the dough under 3/4 inch but don't roll it as thin as 1/2 inch usually. I find the lard much easier to cut into the dry ingredients than cold butter. Whole wheat flour works well for these too.
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 TBS baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 cup lard
- 1 tsp. vinegar
- 1 cup whole milk
- 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°
- Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, garlic powder.
- Add the lard and work through with a fork or pastry cutter
- Put the tsp of vinegar in with the milk; add milk slowly to the dry mixture.
- Add cheese and mix just till all dry ingredients are combined.
- Place dough on a floured surface and knead gently till smooth - about 2 minutes.
- roll out dough to 1/2 to 3/4 inch thickness.
- Cut out biscuits and re-roll extra dough, cutting more biscuits till all are cut.
- Place in a cast-iron skillet.
- You should have 8 biscuits and they should be touching each other in the skillet.
- Bake till the tops are golden brown. Approx. 15 minutes depending on your oven.
Do you make biscuits? Have a favorite recipe? Share it if you want 🙂
Jill
naturally I am curious about yout hsbs reaction. does he still use his recipe or tried yours???
🙂 My hubby loves them and hasn’t made biscuits since. If he asks for biscuits I whip these up!
My parents & 3 out of 5 of my brothers & sister were born in eastern KY. I only lived there for the first 4 1/2 years of my life & then we moved to Madison, Ohio where I lived for the next 33 years until I moved here to Virginia in 1986. I learned to eat northern cooking but when I was home I loved my mother’s southern cooking–and I still do. She makes the best biscuits I have ever tasted. And you’re right, Jill, lard does make good biscuits because that’s what my mother uses. I never learned how to make her biscuits & she can’t right down a recipe because she just tosses a little of this and a little of that into the biscuit bowl, cups out a biscuit with her hand and puts them in an iron skillet to bake. I awoke many a morning growing up to biscuits and gravy for breakfast but I haven’t eaten any in years. Anyway, your recipe looks good and I’ll try it the next time I make biscuits. My husband likes to use them for strawberry shortcake.:)
My Grandma was like that too – she didn’t have recipes for a lot of her stuff. Several of us grandchildren asked for her recipes and managed to get several of them written down and amounts of ingredients figured out. I tend to toss stuff together myself sometimes but not so much when it comes to baked goods!
Jill thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I have a lunch I’m giving this week and cheesy biscuits is just what I planned to make to accompany a shrimp soup that will be served. So excited to try these. I think I will add fresh ground pepper on the top for a little extra punch to go with the soup. Thanks again.
Oh the fresh ground pepper is a great idea too! I hope these were awesome for you!
These look fun to try! I have a biscuit recipe I like really well. It takes the cold butter. I don’t take my time like your husband would, but they turn out and we like them! Now I’m hungry for biscuits!! Your photos are gorgeous and it looks fun to try the cast iron skillet thing, although I might be tempted to just use my stoneware bar pan, now that I have one again.
We always used your recipe I think – Travis could make them, mine weren’t as good. I just dont’ have the patience to work with the cold butter. The lard doesn’t get quite as hard as butter and I don’t mind working with it somehow. And the fact that these turned out so yummy made it so much easier to want to make them again. Now to figure out how to THM them 😀
I grew up making lard from pork that we rendered ourselves. It was the absolute best! If you have buttermilk, you can use that in place of the vinegar and milk. I don’t want my biscuits as fluffy but a crisp outside so I don’t place them close together. Personal preference. Also, use White Lily flour if you can. Martha White is a good substitute for that. Brush with butter upon removing from the oven or brush as soon as they are “set”, return to oven and complete cooking. Also, if you want them to be even height on sides, use a biscuit cutter dipped in flour and cut straight down, don’t twist. Just takes a little practice but they are great even if they aren’t perfect!
We’ve rendered our own lard before too. and the original recipe called for buttermilk but I rarely have it on hand so I just changed it up to what I do have on hand 🙂
It’s nice to know what substitutions you can make. I sometimes do the same if I don’t have buttermilk but I’m more likely to just use regular milk.
I’ve just used regular milk before too. Buttermilk just isn’t something I keep on hand!
These biscuits look so tender, soft, and fluffy! My mouth is seriously watering just looking at them!
Thanks 🙂 they are wonderful biscuits!