I few months ago I shared my favorite recipe for fluffy buttermilk biscuits. And they are still my favorite. But recently I was making a frittata for dinner, and I decided that I wanted to serve biscuits with it. I was feeling kind of lazy, so I didn't feel like dragging out my food processor, rolling out and folding dough, etc, so I made drop biscuits instead.
Being that they are from Cook's Illustrated, there is a step that seems crazy and unorthodox. As I read through the recipe, I noticed that melted butter is used. Melted butter in biscuits?? Cold butter is what MAKES a good biscuit. But the science behind this claims that mixing melted butter with cold buttermilk will create clumps that will then act like cold butter, creating a light and fluffy interior. I was a bit skeptical, but I forged on since I trusted the source.
While these don't have quite the same fluffy layers as traditional biscuits, they are still nice and tender on the inside and crisp on the outside. And they are soo incredibly low-maintenance that it is a trade-off I'm willing to take in a time crunch.
Buttermilk Drop Biscuits
adapted from Cook's Illustrated
makes 12 biscuits
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup cold buttermilk
- 8 Tbs butter, melted, plus additional for brushing the tops of the biscuits
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. In a medium bowl, stir together the melted butter and buttermilk, stirring until small clumps are formed.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and use a rubber spatula to stir, until they are just incorporated, and the batter starts to pull away from the sides.
Use a greased 1/4-cup measuring cup to scoop out the dough and drop on an ungreased baking sheet, spacing the biscuits about 1 1/2 inches apart. Each biscuit should be about 2 inches in diameter and 1 inch high. Brush the tops with additional melted butter, reserving some for when they come out of the oven.
Bake until the tops are crisp and golden-brown, 12-14 minutes. Brush with the remaining butter, and allow to sit for 5 minutes before serving.
