BEST BAKING POWDER BISCUITS Ever!!!

Not a really exciting recipe--especially since it's almost Turkey day but I have been making pie crusts most of the day in prep for said Turkey day...and needed to make SOMETHING for dinner. I had a little left over chicken, so I made a quick Chicken Noodle Soup (nothing fancy) for the husband. You can't have soup without some kind of hot bread, so I pulled out my old Baking Powder Biscuit recipe. I forgot how good these are!! Really--they are, and I think the reason is they use butter instead of shortening. They are quick and fast too. I always use buttermilk instead of half and half. I think it makes them lighter. If you don't have buttermilk on hand, just put a few tablespoons of vinegar in fresh milk and let it sit for a few minutes. It will thicken and become your buttermilk substitute. 

I use my food processor to cut the butter into the flour. Just pulse it a few times. I also mix the milk into the flour with the processor. Just don't process too long. I made these in literally 10 minutes--minus the baking time.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold (1 stick)
3/4 cup half-and-half or buttermilk

Cooking Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Mix together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.
Cut the stick of butter into pieces and work it into the flour mixture with your hands or pastry blender (or food processor) until it resembles pea-size crumbs. Add the half-and-half or buttermilk, mixing until the dough mixed and no flour is present.

Pour the dough out onto a floured surface and knead a few times.
Roll out the dough until it's 1/4 of an inch thick. Use a biscuit or cookie cutter to cut dough.  I use a large round cookie cutter--we like our biscuits BIG!! Place on ungreased cookie sheet  about 1/4 inch apart (so they rise up not out), and bake for about 12 minutes, or until tops are just golden. Serve warm with butter and jam!! They will keep stored in an airtight container for several days.

**For a cheesy biscuit, add about 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese when the dough is almost finished processing. Bits of melted cheese will be in the biscuit. Really good!