The new book Southern Biscuits is more than a cookbook. Written by Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubart, with a foreword by Terry Kay, the book explores the history of biscuits and offers great tips and tricks, accompanied by helpful photos. The text provides a wide range of interesting recipes including a ginger flavored biscuit and the one made famous by The Flying Biscuit restaurants. There are even dessert recipes for chocolate soldiers, biscuit fried pies and brown betty. You’re bound to find one that you want to try!
If you love biscuits like I do, you’ll also be transported to the place and time when you first tasted these tender, flaky breads. I time travelled back to my teenage years when I first ate my Aunt Eva’s “Cat Head Biscuits.” During trips to visit my Mom’s relatives in Hamilton, Ala., I would stay with my Aunt Eva and Uncle Golden at their little yellow house which bordered a horse pasture and pond. It was a quaint, rural setting and the location of many of my fondest childhood memories. One of them was watching my Aunt Eva make homemade breakfast biscuits.
Aunt Eva used the same wooden bowl for more than 40 years. She would mound up the flour in the bowl and then pour buttermilk into the middle of the mound and mix gently. I wish I had asked her the exact measurements, but I didn’t. Instead of rolling out her biscuits, she would drop them by the tablespoonful onto a greased pan. They were big, fluffy and mouth-wateringly good. I confess, I have never made very good biscuits and usually resort to the canned variety. 
So with a measure of hope and skepticism, I opened Southern Biscuits in search of a recipe to help me dazzle and amaze my friends. After trial and error, and a few batches suitable for use as Frisbees, I found success with the simple Baking Powder Biscuits on page 54. My main ingredients were Pillsbury flour, Mayfield buttermilk and butter-flavored Crisco. Seriously they came out light, flaky and delicious! After you’re done cooking up some biscuits, top them with this delicious honey Come on over for breakfast ya’ll.
