Why this recipe Matters

Cincinnati State offers a Pastry Arts and a Culinary Arts degree. As a result, there wasn’t much emphasis on pastry in my curriculum. Clear in my memory though, are the skills that I learned in two Culinary Baking courses. I learned to use a kitchen scale for the first time and that baking a sponge cake properly was essential. I had practical exams for Baked Alaska, pâte à choux, pastry cream and more.

My favorite pastry skill was learning to make homemade biscuits. I had never made biscuits from scratch before. My Grandma Ferguson frequently bought Pillsbury Grands Biscuits. I vividly remember an occasion at Aldi with her. She knelt on the ground and reached her arm as far back as possible…all to get the last can of biscuits from the refrigerator. Needless to say, Grandma loved her Grands.

Decades later, I said goodbye to the canned biscuits.

Suddenly, I’m wearing a culinary uniform and hear the chef instructor saying:

Don’t over mix the dough, it should be crumbly.

…use your bench scraper to gather the scattered pieces on the counter.

Roll out the dough into a large rectangle.

Now fold each side in, just like you would fold a letter for an envelope.

No! Don’t smash the dough down!

...that’s what creates the flaky layers.

Cut the dough into squares, triangles or whichever shape you prefer.

Next, freshly cut biscuits were placed on giant baking sheets. A line of students forming in front of the big commercial ovens. Each of us, waiting to put our tray of biscuits in to bake.

Timer goes off.

Brrrrrrrrrring – Brrrrrrrrrring.

A student opens the oven doors, revealing trays of golden biscuit beauties.

It’s as if I can still smell the classroom kitchen.

The buttery baked aroma permeating through the room.

And the biscuits….

Perfection.

And, I had made them.

I’m going to like culinary school, I quietly thought to myself.

Prepare your Taste Buds

All these years later, when I make biscuits I still think of that day in class. I can see the stainless steel counter before me. My younger hands are nervously rolling out a mound of dough and cutting biscuits.

No disrespect to Grands biscuits here (Grandma). I loved the times we spent shopping at the grocery store together. Even more so, I loved eating the biscuits side by side on the TV trays in your living room.

Wonderful canned biscuit nostalgia.

But…homemade, freshly baked biscuits….a wonder to behold.

Tender layers of flaky pastry that pull apart with ease. Not to mention the nutty aroma of butter that fills the kitchen as they bake.

Biscuits are amazing topped with pimento cheese, slathered with butter, honey or jam. Serve them alongside a slice of juicy ham and macaroni and cheese.

(Insert The Sopranos Italian-American accent)

f-u-g-g-e-d-about-it.

Serve them with sausage gravy for breakfast.

r-i-d-i-c-u-l-o-u-s.

My favorite way to enjoy a biscuit is fresh out of the oven. Steam filling the air as I pull apart each layer and watch as crumbs fall onto the counter below. And of course, spreading more butter on it to enhance my biscuit experience.

As I see the butter melting into each layer, I savor each and every bite.

Trust me. You need to get your biscuit on and try this recipe. Then, you’ll taste exactly what I mean.

Handy Hints for Mile High Flaky Biscuit Minis

•If you do not have a bench scraper, I highly suggest you invest in one. It will make handling the biscuit dough so much easier. To shape and fold biscuit dough with a bench scraper: just slide the bench scraper under the dough, dragging the flour along with it and adding more flour under the dough as needed until it completely releases from the counter.

•It is imperative that you don’t over work the dough, as this will form gluten and result in tough biscuits. In step #6 it will be crumbly and that’s normal. As you continue to roll and fold the dough, use the bench scraper as much as possible so your hands aren’t warming the butter in the dough.

•Biscuit Minis can be made ahead and frozen. Place the biscuits on a baking sheet in a single layer, being sure that they are not touching. Freeze until frozen solid for at least one hour. Once frozen transfer them to freezer safe bags or containers, remove all extra air to prevent ice crystals from forming. When ready to bake, grease a baking sheet with butter and continue from step #13.

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