Buttermilk Powder Biscuits

It is my very humble opinion, a meal is not complete unless you have a biscuit or two to accompanying it. My husband says that is very southern of me.  It's embedded in me, I grew up in the South...well the Southwest anyway.

To me, biscuits are the ultimate comfort food and and the most versatile. Sounding off like Bubba, from Forrest Gump, you can have: butter biscuits, buttermilk biscuits, cheesy biscuits, herb biscuits, garlic biscuits, blueberry biscuits,...oh ok, you get my point. 

It has taken me three years to perfect these biscuits.  Especially since my favorites from KFC - that's Kentucky Fried Chicken just in case anyone still calls it by it's long name), and Red Lobster are not in our budget to buy each desired comfy meal.  

It only took three years, and can you believe, it's all because we ran out of milk, had not even two pennies to rub together and we needed a quick alternative.  And here it is...the secret ingredient...

Dehydrated Powder Milk. $3.54 at Walmart  

Thank you mom, for leaving it at my house! All we needed to do was measure and add water.  What a lifesaver!! But, there was one problem. This amazing powdery goodness that would make up to 10 gallons of buttermilk for no where near the cost of the liquid version, had hardened.  I am not sure, but, I believe the humidity from when our air condition unit was down moistened the powder and then it dried.  At first glance, unusable.  For most, this would be thrown away.

Rock hard dehydrated buttermilk

Feeling the desperation of needing my biscuits, I grabbed a spoon and started scrapping  the surface to generate a powder. How hard can it be? I only needed 3 tablespoons. Well it was this hard...

Hammer and Chisel Hard.

Go ahead, say it!  We did, "WOW!" while laughing out loud.

I know what your thinking, "Come on!  Why didn't you just throw it out and go get milk or better yet buttermilk"? Well for one, like I said, I'm stubborn...very stubborn. Two, I'm cheap or if you want to be nice about it, I am frugal. So if it can be used I'll find a way. But most importantly, on this particular day and this should probably be the number one reason. we didn't have two pennies to rub together. So due to all of the reasons combined we used what we had and in the end, we gave thanks to God for it. 

So, after we chiseled enough of the dried buttermilk, I had to grind it into a powder. I don't know who I am more grateful for.  My husband for Chiseling the block for me or the $10 Cuisinart Coffee grinder.  My husband of course. But, I can't deny, that grinder, for now is a close second.   

So after the craziness of saving the dehydrated buttermilk powder and grinding it back into a powder, we had made biscuits. The best we had ever had...yeah I mean better than KFC good.

We had found a winner and we had decided to finish using the rest of the block of buttermilk and only hope that with purchasing a new carton of the powder it will not harden once opened and stored in the 'Fridge.

One awesome shaped biscuit, the rest was me being sloppy.

Here's the recipe, but I have to warn you, these biscuits turned out so good it would be nearly impossible to eat just one. So Give it a try and tell me what you think.

Buttermilk Biscuits

1/2 Cup Shortening
2 Cups All-Purpose Flower (if using self rising flower omit baking powder and salt)
1 Tablespoon Sugar
2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
3/4 Cup Buttermilk

Yields: 12 biscuits

1. Heat Oven to 450 degrees
2. Cut shortening into flower, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt by using a pastry blender or by crisscrossing 2 knives (I simply use my hands), until mixture looks like fine crumbs (like cornmeal).  Stir in milk until dough leaves sides of bowl.  Note: the dough will be soft and sticky)
3. lightly flour a clean and dry surface. Place dough on surface and lightly knead the dough about 5 to 10 times.  Add flour as needed if the dough remains sticky.  (it should not be dry, but just moist enough to touch without sticking to your fingers).  Roll or pat out the dough to about 1/2 inch thinkness.  Cut the with a flour cutter. 
4. On a lightly greased cookie sheet, place the cut dough about 1 inch apart. 
5. Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes until golden brown.  Immediately remove from the cookie sheet placing them on a cooling rack.  
6. Optional: Butter tops and bottom...yeah I do the bottoms too.  

Healthy Info Stuff: 

1 biscuit is about 160 calories (calories from fat 80); Fat 9g (Saturated 2g); Cholesterol 5ml; Sodium 310mg (not including added butter); carbohydrate 18g (dietary fiber 0g); Protein 2g. 

Share a recipe, tell me what you think...we love comments.  Nice ones that is....