National Buttermilk Biscuit Day

Buttermilk biscuits - there are few words more beautiful.  With these two words, you immediately conjure notions of flakiness, crumbliness, tenderness, steam rising as the biscuit is split open, butter melting on the freshly baked treat.  Biscuits are perfect accompaniments to so many dishes - eggs, barbecue, chicken, sausage gravy, and more.

Today is National Buttermilk Biscuit Day, an occasion for celebration!  So, of course, I baked biscuits ... and I didn't even tinker with the notion or try to put some spin on it, for once.  They're so easy to make that I should do so more often; I couldn't tell you why I don't; I guess there are just too many other dishes to make and these get left by the wayside.  That's too bad - biscuits should make a more regular appearance at the meals I serve.

Because as Jeremy so eloquently put it: "These biscuits are so thick and so crumbly and so good ... they're better than Pillsbury!"

Buttermilk Biscuits

2-1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons butter, cold, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
3/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400F.  Grease an 8" round pan.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Mix the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the flour resembles meal.  Combine the yogurt and buttermilk and stir together gently.

Place everything onto a floured countertop and knead just until the dough holds together.  Pat into a 1"-tall rectangle.  Using a 2-1/2" biscuit cutter, cut out 8 biscuits by pushing the cutter in and pulling it up without twisting; this helps the biscuits to rise better.  Place the biscuits into the prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden on top.

Serve hot with butter, jam, honey, gravy, or anything else that strikes your fancy.

Makes 8 biscuits.