How NOT to Make Biscuits

I did a first last night.

There's a biscuit recipe I have made hundreds of time throughout my life. I've made it so often I don't pull out the recipe anymore because I know it by heart.

Maybe I spoke too soon.

I had the distinct impression last night as I mixed the biscuits that something was off. Since I couldn't figure out what it was, I just popped them into the oven.

10 minutes later, when I should have been pulling out hot, fluffy, golden brown biscuits from the oven, I figured it out.

I forgot the baking powder!

Do you know what biscuits, minus baking powder, look like? They look like baked play dough: flat, pale, rubbery, thick. They even smell like play dough.

My dinner company reached into the depths of their souls to find some sort of compliment. Compliments such as, "You really can't get these anywhere else!" or "This isn't the most horrible food I've tried!"

I quickly tossed the leftovers in the trash, but not before I took a picture.

So here is how the wrong way looks.

Don't forget the baking powder!

Here is the recipe for Biscuits Supreme, one that came to me from my grandma through my mom. Just remember to add the baking powder if you make them!

Biscuits Supreme

• Mix: 2 cups flour, 4 teaspoons baking powder, 2 teaspoons sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar.

• Cut in: 1/2 cup shortening (or use the same amount of vegetable oil)

• Add in: 3/4 cup buttermilk (or sour some milk with vinegar)

• Mix all of this just enough to moisten the dough.

• Pat out the dough on a floured surface to about 1/2" thick, cut into biscuits, and lay out close together on a baking sheet. Putting them close together helps them fluff up higher--if you remember the baking powder!

• Bake for 8-10 minutes at 450F degrees.

You'll notice the picture has square shapes. I don't have a biscuit cutter, which I found out last night when I went to pull out one.

So I just used my mom's trick for biscuits: throw it all on the pan, pat it out, then cut it into squares, and leave it to bake that way.

She never had time for silly things like cutting out biscuits.