Spring Onion Biscuits
NOW it’s Easter weekend y’all! PRAISE BE!
What are the plans? Are my readers big Easter peeps? – HAH. Get it? Peeps?
I’ll see myself out.
ANYWAY.
I hosted my first-ever cooking class last weekend! Kelly from What The Farm and I had been dreaming up a fun class that wouldn’t be too daunting for folks, overly complicated or too expensive. ((we almost hit all the marks))
Now that its almost been a week since the class, I’m finally calm enough to look back at my presentation & “teachable” moments – luckily our participants were SUPER nice & laid back people – they were all there for some GOOD EATS *wink*
gimmie all da biscuits & all da gravy
I felt a little nerdy & nervous, so I decided to do a little icebreaker quiz to kick off my cooking class! I was asking the fine people if they knew the 2 different kinds of biscuits ((rolled & dropped)), if they knew that Biscuits & Gravy was considered a Depression Era food, and did they know that there is literally NO wrong variation of gravy?!
In addition to teaching these newbs how to make scratch drop biscuits, we made 2 types of gravy – Classic White Pepper Gravy & Red Eye Gravy.
let’s talk gravy
The stories of gravy is as follows : Classic White Pepper Gravy is a Southern staple and was made and used to thicken up meals – sometimes sausage was used, or just the fat leftover to make the gravy to be topped onto biscuits, chicken or even toast ((shit on a shingle)) were the purposes to stretch the meal further to fill poor, starved bellies. Red Eye Gravy was nearly used as a “double meal” because this type of gravy *usually* consists of ham drippings and coffee to make a thinner, more bitter-tasting gravy. Red Eye Gravy has also been called Poor Man’s Gravy because it *usually* has no meat ((only drippings)) and no cream – leftover coffee from breakfast was used to make this dark, thinner gravy because cream or milk was expensive and difficult to come by during The Great Depression. The ham slice was then dried out to be used for another meal, perhaps lunch or dinner – thus also stretching the use of the ham itself for 2 ways.
I personally enjoy my gravy to be thick, creamy & full of sausage – cue MY version of Red Eye Gravy – I enjoy the slightly bitter taste of coffee but I also like to drizzle in about a ½ cup of Half & Half to give it that thicker, richer consistency that I associate with gravy. I was tickled pink that hardly any of my class participants had ever tasted Red Eye Gravy – they were in for a treat, I tell you what!
let’s talk biscuits
Spring Onion Biscuits remind me of Easter, spring & my childhood. My mom has made these for years & they are always so delicious and pair perfectly with so many foods – ESPECIALLY for Easter!
Idk about y’all but my family has always gone all-out for Easter. Kentucky Legend Ham, individual veggie frittatas in mini cast iron pans, sausage gravy, Spring Onion Biscuits & fruit are the usual suspects – but Judy has also been known to throw down with other varieties for the Risen Lord. The bright, slightly tangy bite of the green onion ((whites & all!)) in these beloved biscuits truly pair beautifully with gravy, a slice of honey ham for a lil biscuit sandwich, or heck – they are delicious plain with butter!
Scratch biscuits don’t have to be overly difficult. What I like most about these biscuits is literally how easy they are – don’t require frozen butter to be cut into these biscuits, no rolling, no cutting – literally mix dry ingredients with wet ingredients, floured surface, minimal mixing & then BAM! – pull off chunks of dough, slap it on a cookie sheet & into the oven they go! ((a brush of melted butter on top is HIGHLY recommended tho))
So now I’m sure you’re HOPPING to get this recipe started – seriously I can’t help it, I absolutely love puns – so let’s show y’all what my Spring Onion Biscuits are all about and they just might make an appearance for your Easter Feast! Let’s get to it!
Ingredients
· 3 cups AP flour
· 2 TSP baking powder
· 1 ½ TSP salt
· 1 ½ TSP freshly ground black pepper
· 2 1/3 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
· 1 ½ cup thinly sliced green onions (whites, too!)
· 2 TBS melted salted butter, for brushing the tops of the biscuits!
Instructions, 1
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
Measure out the heavy whipping cream & slice the green onions into a medium-sized bowl – stir well to combine. Place the bowl in the freezer & allow to chill for 20-30 minutes.
((this step is especially important because the chilled heavy whipping cream is your fat rather than butter, so it helps bind the biscuits together better when chilled!))
Measure out all dry ingredients into a large bowl.
*** I’d go ahead & take this lil break to have a glass of champy! These biscuits will come together quickly & time is of the essence so set a timer while you wait on your heavy whipping cream to chill, put your feet up & think about how delicious these biscuits are gonna turn out! *wink*
Pour the chilled heavy whipping cream & green onions mixture into the dry ingredients – mix together thoroughly with a fork until the ingredients are combined.
Your biscuit mixture WILL be sticky – it WILL stick to your fork – this is a good sign! This is what you want!
Sprinkle some flour onto a cutting board or granite biscuit board.
Place the dough onto the floured work surface.
DO NOT KNEAD THIS DOUGH.
Instructions, 2
Simply sprinkle flour on top of your dough & gently work / shape the dough into a large, flat-ish, circular ball.
Have your greased cookie sheet at the ready.
Dust your hands with flour & simply grab a chunk of dough and again, gently work / shape / pat out the dough with your hands into a loose, easy biscuit shape!
((basically, the less you handle this dough, the fluffier & delicate your biscuits will be – which is the point!))
Try to keep each biscuit around the same size & shape – this will ensure that the biscuits bake evenly!
Melt your butter in the microwave or saucepan.
Using a brush or even a spoon, evenly top each biscuit with melted butter.
Place in the oven for 18-22 minutes ((remember each oven is different!))
You can even set the timer for half and rotate your biscuits if you like a browner bottom or top!
Your biscuits are best served instantly! They will be piping hot, slightly dense in the middle, and as they baked, you will see little “cracks” and lines throughout – this is because you didn’t stretch the dough or roll it out so the biscuits and they are perfect crevices for that melted butter to have seeped in as they baked! *YUM*
LOOK AT YOU – YOU JUST MADE SCRATCH DROP BISCUITS!!!
Now plate them up & gobble them down!
biscuit making — art VS science
Was it all that hard? Was it all that scary? I hope you enjoyed this journey & serve these up for someone you love! What will you choose to serve these biscuits with? A thick slice of honey ham is always a winner. A thick pat of butter is also a delicious choice! If you choose to make some gravy, I’d love to hear about it! I’ll give you a few gravy tips – choose your breakfast meat wisely. Plain Ground Pork / Breakfast Sausage is always the best choice. RAW. None of that pre-cooked or pre-crumbled shit.
FUN FACTS ABOUT SAUSAGE GRAVY :
Fat Free Half & Half is my choice of liquid for creamy, thick sausage gravy.
I don’t use an abundance of spices – I like my sausage gravy simple : lots of ground black pepper.
Sausage Gravy isn’t a Science, it’s an Art – meaning, each brand of pork has different fat ratios – so you don’t know EXACTLY how much flour you need, you don’t know EXACTLY if you’re gonna need a pat of butter to push that fat factor. You just gotta pay attention & see how much *sheen* is in your pan before adding your flour – like I said, an ART rather than a SCIENCE. You’ll figure it out!
Happy Easter to my favorite readers – you’ve been seeing me through some major slumps the past 6 months & I’m driven by my love of cooking and my love of sharing my family recipes with you and getting your feedback. I’m still over the moon & shaking from hosting a COOKING CLASS and showing people in real time how to make my favorite biscuits – it was truly a joy.
I hope you can see the simplicity, vibrancy & theme of these delicious Spring Onion Biscuits – trust, they are good year-round, but they taste extra-special for Easter!
Thanks for stopping by!
I appreciate you stopping by! If you loved it, I’d love to hear from you.
If you hated it, then same.
Have a great day & look for my next entry!
© 2021 Cookin’ & Cussin’
