Grandmothers Gems Biscuits Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat an oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
• Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt into a bowl. Use a pastry cutter to chop vegetable shortening into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Whisk egg and milk together in a separate bowl and slowly add milk mixture to flour mixture, stirring as you pour, until dough is moistened and well-mixed. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until biscuits have risen and are golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450°. In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add milk; stir just until moistened., Turn onto a lightly floured surface; knead gently 8-10 times. Pat dough into a 10x4-in. rectangle. Cut rectangle lengthwise in half; cut crosswise to make 10 squares., Place 1 in. apart on an ungreased baking sheet; brush tops with egg. Bake until golden brown, 8-10 minutes. Serve warm.

Steps:

• 1. Place all dry ingredients into a large bowl. Cut in the lard, until mixture looks like meal. Stir in buttermilk. If dough is not pliable, add just enough buttermilk to make a soft, puffy dough that is easy to roll out. Knead dough on lightly floured board about one to two minutes or 25 to 30 times. Roll out dough to about 3/4 inch thick. Cut with floured biscuit cutter, or use a glass of the right size. Place on greased baking sheet. Bake in a 450 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes.
• 2. *** I don't use LARD. I use either Butter Flavored Crisco or Margarine. The Pioneers cooked them a bit differntly as there were no modern ovens on the trail... They made make-shift ovens that were sitting on coals of the campfire and more coals on top to get a hot oven effect. They also spent a lot of time baking as the ovens were small. They also sometimes made them in a skillet or a heavy pot with a lid (Dutch Oven)with coals under and about 12 - 15 on top.

Steps:

• For the biscuits: Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Grease a baking sheet.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and the chilled, cubed butter. Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour until it resembles a coarse meal. Alternatively, combine the flour and chilled butter in a food processor and pulse to combine until it resembles coarse meal, then transfer to a large mixing bowl.
• Stir in the baking powder, salt, sugar and baking soda. Form a well in the center of the flour and pour in the buttermilk. Mix with a fork until all of the ingredients are incorporated and the dough begins to shape into a ball. (The dough will be slightly dry.)
• Dust a clean work surface with flour, coat your palms, and rub some on a rolling pin. Turn out the dough onto the work surface. Knead the dough for 1 to 2 minutes, folding it over onto itself each time. Pat the dough into a rectangle and then roll the dough to about 1/2-inch thick. Dip a 3-inch biscuit cutter or the rim of a 3-inch-wide glass in flour, and then cut out the biscuits. Alternatively, use a knife to cut the biscuits into 3-inch squares. Reshape the leftover dough into a ball, roll it out again, and cut out more biscuits. Repeat this process until the dough is gone.
• Place the biscuits on the baking sheet and bake until the tops are golden brown, 12 to 14 minutes. While the biscuits are still hot, brush the biscuits with the 2 tablespoons softened butter.
• For the butter: Stir or mash the butter and molasses or honey together to combine, leaving a few streaks of molasses visible.
• Serve the flavored butter with the warm biscuits.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 450˚ F. Sift 2 cups flour, the salt, sugar and baking powder into a large bowl. Mix in the lard with a fork or your fingers until well blended.
• Gradually add the buttermilk until the dough is wet and sticky (but not too wet), then add the remaining 3 tablespoons flour until the dough comes together and is kneadable. Either pinch off 2-inch biscuits or pat out the dough until ½ inch thick on a lightly floured surface and cut out biscuits with a floured 2-inch round cutter; arrange on a baking sheet. Brush the tops of the biscuits with buttermilk.
• Bake the biscuits until golden brown on top, 15 to 17 minutes.

Steps:

• Before mixing batter, grease iron gem pans ( I think this is our cast iron pans) , place in oven, set control at 400 degrees, turn on the heat.
• Sift flour and baking powder.
• Beat eggs vigorously, add sugar, salt and butter. Add flour alternately with the milk. Pour into gem pans which should be smoking hot. Bake: requires about 10 minutes.
• Needless to say the temperature data is my own addition. No doubt my granmother tested oven and gem pan temperature as she did her flat iron, with a wet finger tip.

Steps:

• 1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Sift the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt into a mixing bowl. Using a fork or a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour until it resembles cornmeal. Add the milk, stirring until the dough just comes together to form a ball.
• 2. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface. Gently pat the dough down with your hands and fold it over on itself. Pat the dough down and fold it over once or twice more. Loosely cover the dough with a clean kitchen towel and let it rest for a half hour or so.
• 3. Being careful not to overwork the dough, roll it out until it is 3/4 to 1 inch thick. Cut dough into biscuits using whatever cutter you like. Grandmother used an inverted juice glass, which was really an old preserves jar. For more biscuits, use a smaller glass.
• 4. Place the biscuits on a cookie sheet and bake until uniformly golden brown, 10-14 minutes.