Sunday Biscuits

Everyone should have kitchen traditions, and most of us do. Thanksgiving turkey, Christmas cookies, Easter lamb. These are all wonderful and make for delicious and festive meals. But the things that I remember most from my childhood are not the foods that sanctified our holiday table, but the smell of coconut cake fresh from my grandmother's oven every Friday afternoon, the creamy saltiness of mozzarella on homemade pizza Saturday night, the sweet, vanilla-scented glaze on my Sunday morning donut-a cherished treat for good behavior in church.

Now that I am a grown-up with a family of my own, I have my own small traditions. Strawberry picking and jam making, pizza night, high tea. One of our favorites is our Sunday morning biscuit making. It is lovely to make these with my small children: measuring out the ingredients with small, careful hands, watching their thoughtful choice of cutter from our cookie cutter collection, sneaking nibbles of the dough, pressing our faces to the oven window to watch the biscuits magically rise. But eating them together is the best of all.

 Recipe:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 Tablespoons butter, chilled and cut into pieces
1/2 cup fresh, cold buttermilk

 Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

 For a food processor:

 1. In the bowl of your processor add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Blitz quickly to combine.
 2. Add chilled butter and blitz in little bursts (on-off, on-off, on-off) until mixture is evenly combined and resembles small peas.
 3. Turn the processor on and add buttermilk through the funnel JUST until the mixture begins to come together. Do Not Over Mix! The mixture should just be coming together, not completely combined in one mass. You will pat it into shape when you cut the dough.
 4. Turn out dough on a lightly floured surface and pat it gently into a disc about 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough with your favorite biscuit cutter (or a floured drinking glass) and place biscuits on a baking sheet or in a large, heavy cast-iron skillet.
 5. Bake about 12 minutes in the middle of hot oven. Biscuits are done when they are risen, crusty and gorgeously golden-brown. Remove to a wire rack and let cool slightly.
6. Split and spread with butter and honey, preserves, grainy mustard and ham, or eat them plain.

 By hand:

 Follow the above instructions, but use frozen butter. Use a grater and grate the butter through the medium holes into the dry ingredients. Mix lightly with a wooden spoon. Add buttermilk and mix lightly just until the mixture is combined. The butter will not be completely incorporated, don't worry, it will melt and make delicious little freckles on your biscuits.

Depending on the size of your cutter, this recipe makes about 12-15 biscuits.