Grandma's Biscuits

Another trip down Grandma Memory Lane

In case you haven't read the "Grandmother's Ambrosia" post, this is my Granny...

 Mattie Jeanette Turner

In my opinion, the worlds greatest cook. Please don't try to convince me otherwise because it is an argument you will not win! But that's not how she is in my memory, in the above photo she was attending the wedding of someone who cared enough about her to get a nice shot.

This is how I remember my Granny...

Sitting in her chair (usually hand quilting) and talking on the telephone. She could talk all day!

Now on to the good part!

Any time I stayed with my granny, Saturday and/or Sunday morning breakfast contained homemade biscuits (along with bacon, eggs and grits that she probably started cooking at 6am.... with breakfast around 9am). I "helped" her make biscuits once I was big enough to stand on a chair beside her at the counter (and there's picture proof that that one Christmas she moved things to the kitchen table so I could do the mixing).

She had a very large wooden bowl (which was probably supposed to be a salad bowl) that she kept her flour in (Martha White). It was covered with a dish towel and stored in the cabinet under the counter (flour replenished as needed. And, btw, the sugar was kept in an old LARD container. I want hat container one day. Flour bowl has already been given to my cousin Karen). So, every weekend the bowl would come out. She's make a well in the flour for the other ingredients. Add to to that a little hand scoop (dad describes it as about a 1/2 cup) of Crisco and some buttermilk (some is not defined) and start mixing (by hand), incorporating the flour as you go (use as much or as little as needed to get the right consistency). This is one of those "This is not an exact science" things. It was all by sight and feel. I think I could pull it off today even though she died in 1997 and it was many years before that that she was not able to cook anymore.

Once the dough came together she would put some flour down on the counter and roll out the dough (if you are cringing here you haven't read the post about her Ambrosia). Here's where there's a conflict of opinion, I say she used a coffee cup to cut the biscuits out. My aunt says she used something else. No matter, she probably used whatever was handy (and round).

Now comes the information that involved a "dad call" (see highlights). Put them on a greased cookie sheet (unless using a newer non-stick pan or a silicon mat) and bake at 450 for about until brown minutes (hehehe, I liked the way I had this written out in my notebook so I left it that way). On the top Rack (I didn't even think about that). Serve with the previously mentioned bacon, eggs and grits and sides of butter and preferably home made jam, jelly or preserves (see future post for Granny's Strawberry Fig Preserves that she made for her favorite granddaughter every year).

So, give it a try (or 10)!

Me and my Granny (with my Aunt Pat and Uncle Mike in the background).