It's hard to admit that I've never been a great biscuit maker. I've attempted buttermilk biscuits over the years, but they always fell flat somehow. Some were too dense, others too hard (think hockey puck) and still others were too floury-tasting in the middle. I experimented with butter, vegetable shortening and lard and I couldn't get it right. So I stopped making biscuits altogether. Then I discovered Southern Living's buttermilk biscuits. Guys - this one's a game changer.
White Lily Flour and Southern Living's Buttermilk Biscuits
After many non-biscuit making years, I found myself scouring the internet for the best buttermilk biscuit recipes. I was craving a really great biscuit and I wasn't going to stop until I made one. Southern Living's recipe came up and they looked like the perfect biscuit. The pictures made my stomach growl, and I decided it was time to give biscuit making another chance. And since I knew that I can't make an original biscuit to save my life - it was time to bring in the experts. I read the reviews of Southern Living's biscuits and the pictures got me hooked too.
It all comes down to White Lily Flour. However, if you don't live in the South, your grocery store will not have White Lily Flour. This is a true story. Depending on where and when you can find White Lily online, the price fluctuates tremendously. I finally found a reasonable price and placed my order.
Flour Matters When it Comes to Making Buttermilk Biscuits
Because I'm not a "baker" I never took the time to figure out all the science and chemistry that it involves. White Lily flour is made of soft red winter wheat which has less protein and gluten than other flours and makes for a softer, fluffy biscuit. This matters in the world of making top-notch biscuits.
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Southern Living's Buttermilk Biscuits are theeee most soft and pillowy biscuits I've ever tasted. And buttery. So delicious and buttery. The recipe is very specific, but easy to follow. If, for some reason, you don't eat every.single.biscuit in one sitting you can save some for later. I love pulling these out of the freezer for breakfast sandwiches.
Southern Living's Buttermilk Biscuits with a Kick
To make things more interesting, I made the original biscuits and another version with jalapeno and cheddar. If you absolutely love a little mouth-on-fire action - make the jalapeno version. Just be sure to read my notes in the recipe card below so you know what you're getting yourself in to.
Looking for More Breakfasty Treats? I Gotcha Covered:
- Cheddar-Stuffed French Toast w/Peach Compote
- Simple Cheese Omelet w/Home Fries (perfect with these biscuits on the side!)
- Roasted Tomato, Asparagus & Gruyere Quiche w/Homemade Crust
- How to Make a Western Omelet (again, would be awesome with these biscuits)
- Cheddar Herb Biscuits (life after White Lily flour if you don't live down south)
- Skillet Frittata w/Spinach, Leeks & Feta
Southern Living's Buttermilk Biscuits (Regular & Jalapeno Cheddar)
- Prep Time: 30 min for regular & 45 min for Jalapeno Cheddar
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes to 1 hour (approx)
- Yield: 8-10 biscuits 1x
Description
The perfect biscuit, to me, is crunchy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside. Oh, and so, so buttery. Crunchy, fluffy, buttery biscuits – is there anything better in life? This simple recipe makes amazing, gourmet biscuits!
Ingredients
Regular Buttermilk Biscuit Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups White Lily Self-Rising Flour (see note#1)
- 1 stick of frozen butter, grated
- 1 cup chilled buttermilk
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- parchment paper
Jalapeno Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuit Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups White Lily Self-Rising Flour (see note #1)
- 1 stick of frozen butter, grated
- 1 cup chilled buttermilk
- 1-3 roasted jalapenos, diced
- 1 ½-2 cups shredded cheddar
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- parchment paper
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Instructions
Instructions for Plain Buttermilk Biscuits
NOTE: I used a 3-inch biscuit cutter for a larger biscuit. You can use a smaller biscuit cutter if you like. It's up to you.
- Preheat oven to 475 degrees.
- Put flour in a bowl.
- Grate frozen butter with a box grater and add to flour. Mix butter and flour together gently with your fingers.
- Put the bowl with butter and flour in the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Put buttermilk in freezer. (optional)
- If you didn’t put your buttermilk in the freezer, it should be kept in the refrigerator until you are ready to add it to the flour and butter mixture.
- Make a well in the center of the flour/butter bowl and pour the buttermilk into it.
- According to Southern Living’s website, you must mix the flour/butter/buttermilk exactly 15 times. So that’s what I did. I used a wooden spatula and turned it gently until it was one giant blob.
- Lightly flour your cutting board or wherever you are turning out your dough. Also lightly flour your rolling pin. Then dump the dough onto the floured surface.
- Roll out your dough into a rectangle (about ½" to ¾") then fold it in half. Then roll it into a rectangle again and fold it in half again. You should roll and fold a total of FIVE times. On the final roll, you will be ready to cut the biscuits.
- When you cut the biscuit with your biscuit cutter, press straight down and don’t twist the cutter. If you don’t have a cutter, just use the rim of a glass – it’ll work just fine.
- Place the biscuits so they are touching each other on your parchment paper-lined sheet pan. If you don’t have parchment paper just use some cooking spray.
- Cook biscuits for 15 minutes or until golden brown
- Take out of oven and brush with melted butter while they’re still hot.
- Serve immediately.
Instructions for Buttermilk Biscuits with Jalapeno & Cheddar
- Place your washed jalapenos on a sheet pan with some olive oil and roast in a pre-heated oven at 475 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until they’re charred on the outside.
- After you take them out of the oven, you can put them in a sealed container for a few minutes to make it easier to remove the skins. This is optional but I think it helps.
- Once you’ve let the jalapenos cool down, remove the skins and seeds and discard them. Then you want to dice them into small pieces and put them in a ramekin.
- The rest of the steps are the same as above: Grate frozen butter with a box grater and add to flour. Mix butter and flour together gently with your fingers. Put the bowl with butter and flour in the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Put buttermilk in freezer. (optional)
- If you didn’t put your buttermilk in the freezer, it should be kept in the refrigerator until you are ready to add it to the flour and butter mixture.
- BEFORE you add the buttermilk to the flour and butter mixture, you’ll want to add the diced jalapenos (completely cooled down) and shredded cheddar cheese. Mix everything together gently. Make a well in the center of the flour/butter bowl and pour the buttermilk into it.
- According to Southern Living’s website, you must mix the flour/butter/buttermilk exactly 15 times. So that’s what I did. I used a simple wooden spatula and turned it gently until it was one giant blob.
- Lightly flour your cutting board or wherever you are turning out your dough. Also lightly flour your rolling pin. Then dump the dough onto the floured surface.
- Roll out your dough into a rectangle then fold it in half. Then roll it into a rectangle again and fold it in half again. You should roll and fold a total of FIVE times. On the final roll, you will be ready to cut the biscuits.
- When you cut the biscuit with your biscuit cutter, press straight down and don’t twist the cutter. If you don’t have a cutter, just use a glass – it’ll work just fine.
- Place the biscuits so they are touching each other on your parchment paper-lined sheet pan. If you don’t have parchment paper just use some cooking spray.
- Cook biscuits for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
- Take out of oven and brush with melted butter while they’re still hot.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
- In case you missed it in the video, I cannot stress enough how important it is to use White Lily Self-Rising Flour. It’s a very special flour and it truly makes a difference. Walmart has a good price, but I’ve found Amazon is usually much higher – not sure why.
- In between rolling and folding the biscuit dough five times, you can continue to lightly flour your rolling pin and rolling surface as needed.
- For the jalapeno cheddar biscuits. To save time, you could use canned, diced jalapenos instead of roasting them yourself. I like roasting them because I think the flavor is better.
- Also for the jalapeno cheddar: As you see in the video, I used a whopping 8 roasted and diced jalapenos which didn’t seem like too much, but holy-five-alarm-fire-in-my-mouth! If you love things spicy, use 8. For a milder version, using 1-3 roasted and diced jalapenos should be just fine.
- I did chill the jalapenos and cheddar cheese in the freezer (separately) when I put the flour/butter mixture in the freezer so everything would be super cold when I mixed it together.
- I used a slightly larger biscuit cutter (3-inch biscuit cutter) so I got about 8 biscuits. You can get more if you use a smaller cutter.
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