Biscuits with Sundried Tomatoes

We are gathered here today…

Biscuits. So simple. You probably have the ingredients without an extra trip to the store. They go with any meal of the day. Winter-time soups and stews cry out for a biscuit buddy. You can jazz them up with a few additions, or keep them basic. Making these reminded me of when my son was a toddler and I made dinner every night. Our humble dinners of hamburger gravy over biscuits weren’t fancy, but they were made with love.

Biscuits with Sundried Tomatoes

INGREDIENTS

2 cups flour (I used 100% white whole wheat)

4 teaspoons baking powder (aluminum-free)

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¾ teaspoon salt (I used sea salt)

2 tablespoons sundried tomatoes, chopped into small bits (OPTIONAL)

2 tablespoons butter, unsalted

2 tablespoons coconut oil (organic, virgin) *

1 cup buttermilk, chilled **

For Garlic Butter to brush on top:

4 tablespoons butter, unsalted

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon dried parsley flakes

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using a pastry blender (as shown in photograph) or 2 butter knives, cut butter and coconut oil into dry ingredients until mixture looks like crumbs. Mix in the sundried tomatoes.

“Cutting in” the fats into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender.

Make a well in the center and pour in the chilled buttermilk.

Stir just until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky.

Turn dough onto floured surface, dust top with flour and gently fold dough over on itself 5 or 6 times. With the palms of your hands, press the dough into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough.

Experimenting with different sizes of biscuit cutters.

Place biscuits on baking sheet (covered with parchment if you like) so that they just touch. Reform the scraps of dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting out biscuits. If you have other sizes of cutters, go ahead and try them out. I made mini-biscuits with this batch.

Bake until biscuits are light gold on top, about 15 minutes.

During last 2 minutes of baking, prepare the garlic butter as follows.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan or a microwave-safe bowl. Stir in the garlic powder, salt and parsley flakes.

When the biscuits are out of the oven, immediately brush the tops with the garlic butter.

Yum, yum, yum.

* If you don’t have coconut oil, use another 2 tablespoons of butter.

** A substitute for buttermilk is 1 tablespoon of lemon juice in a 1-cup measure, then finish filling the 1-cup measure with milk.

There’s about a thousand ways to make biscuits. If you have a favorite, I’d love to hear it.