Southern Woman Starter Kit: Jesus and Buttermilk Biscuits
If you’ve ever cried over a biscuit that didn’t rise, bless your heart ~ you’re not alone. I’ve cried over more biscuits than I have men. True story.
For years, I’ve thought the perfect Southern woman had a look: sweet face, soft hands, welcoming arms that squeezed the life out of you, a big laugh, a tender heart, and always, always biscuits on her counter. Not everyone can make them, but everyone remembers who can. That elusive Southern unicorn: tall, fluffy, and brushed with butter. And let’s be honest ~ down here, there are two things every Southern woman’s expected to have: a relationship with Jesus and a biscuit recipe worth passing down. I had the first, but the second? That one took a lot longer... and a whole lot of trial and error.
I’ve tried every so-called ‘simple’ recipe anyone’s handed me. I always felt defeated because they came out so hard the dogs wouldn’t eat them, and sometimes wouldn’t even play with them. They wouldn’t rise. I open the oven door and find hard little hockey pucks where my Southern heritage was supposed to be. But I kept trying... because deep down, I believed that real Southern women made biscuits ~ and that maybe, if I could get it right, I’d finally earn my spot at the table and make all the biscuit-making women in my bloodline proud of me.
Not too long ago, my son, Tripper, sent me a recipe and said, “Hey mama, try this.” That simple text changed my life, and I’ll be forever grateful. I don’t know if Jesus just felt sorry for me and finally made it happen, or if this truly is a magical recipe, but something shifted ~ and since then, I’ve been making some of the best biscuits we’ve put in our faces!
I want to share my recipe with you, in case you’ve been one of those striving unsuccessfully with the ever-frustrating Southern bread that humbles us all. I make these often and share them with anyone who will take them. I know some of my neighbors are thinking, Good Lord, we love her, but please make her stop shoving bread at us.
The elusive Southern unicorn: finally tamed.
Buttermilk Biscuits
A Southern woman’s bread of honor
Ingredients:
2 cups of all-purpose flour (I like King Arthur or White Lily)
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup COLD real butter, sliced
1 cup COLD buttermilk
1 tbsp butter for your skillet
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 450̊ F. If using a cast iron skillet, melt 1 tbsp butter in the skillet while preheating. (Cast iron gives you thicker, fluffier biscuits. A cookie sheet gives you crisp all around.)
2. Mix dry ingredients. Add in cold, sliced butter and cold buttermilk. Mix with wooden spoon. (Trust the magic of a wooden spoon.)
3. Roll and fold dough a few times (4-5 total folds), then cut biscuits with a round cutter or glass. Don’t twist ~ just press and lift.
4. Throw those jokers in the skillet in that melted butter. Bake for 12 minutes.
5. Broil for two additional minutes at the end for golden tops.
6. Brush with melted butter while hot.
Best served with warm gratitude ~ and maybe a little mayhaw jelly if you’re feelin’ extra.
But seriously... turns out, I don’t have to strive to be a perfect Southern woman. Nothing about me is perfect ~ except the One who redeemed me. In Jesus, I’m made whole ~ and apparently, now so are my biscuits.
The world has all kinds of ideas about what a woman should be. I say forget that. Do right by Jesus. Do right by others. Do right by yourself. If you can lay your head down at night knowing you did your best ~ you’re doing better than most. And if you master something you’ve been diligent about, praise Jesus first. Then share your new skill with your neighbors… until they turn the lights out when they see you crossing the property line.
If learning to make biscuits is part of your journey, I hope this recipe brings you the same joy it brought me. Thank you, Tripper, for the save. You’ll be biscuited up to your chin forevermore. I love you, son.