We celebrated my husband’s birthday this past Sunday evening, which meant that he chose the entire menu. It was a simple menu: grilled steaks topped with butter, broccoli, and Caesar salad. I asked if he wanted some sort of starch, and he requested sugar biscuits. That is where the simple menu became more difficult. Yes, I don’t know when not to ask for more. . .
Sugar biscuits may seem easy to make. The problem is that he likes a particular type of sugar biscuits served at a Maryland restaurant, Friendly Farm. So, instead of simply being a request for a certain type of biscuit, there was an icon that I was trying to match. I have been to this restaurant and eaten them, so I was pretty certain that they are deep-fried. Unfortunately, I am neither a fan of eating nor cooking anything deep fried. I know, it was his birthday, but I was cooking and wanted to make them in a way I would do best. So, I decided to go the route of baking them.
To make matters more stressful, on Sunday I learned that not only had my husband enjoyed them at the restaurant, but years ago he had made them himself, deep-fried. And yes, he thought the ones he had made tasted just like the restaurant version. At this point, I accepted that mine would not be replicas. However, they would be the best baked sugar biscuits he ever had eaten.
Playing with ideas on how to make a baking powder biscuit extra delicious, I decided to dip the entire unbaked biscuit in melted butter and then sugar. I hoped it would make a wonderful coating that would compensate for the lack of frying. When dinnertime arrived (AKA the moment of truth), I was worried. Sure, my husband would eat them and not say a word if he were disappointed, but I would know by the quantity he ate. Well, I served a dozen sugar biscuits to our party of four. There were none left after the meal, and it seems that my dear ate at least four of them. With four biscuits eaten, they seemed to be just fine.
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 3/4 – 1 cup milk
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- Preheat oven to 400.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and 1 tablespoon sugar.
- Cut cold butter into flour mixture, and mix with a pastry blender (or two forks) until butter is the size small peas.
- Add milk gradually, stirring until the dough just begins to form a ball.
- Transfer dough to a floured surface, and knead for a minute or until fully combined.
- Roll dough to a thickness of 1 inch.
- Use a 2-inch biscuit cutter (or glass) to make biscuits.
- When all biscuits are cut, dip each biscuit in butter, coating both sides, and then sugar, coating both sides, and place on baking sheet.
- Transfer dipped biscuits to rimmed baking sheet.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown.
