Cream Biscuits

With a holiday weekend approaching, chances are you might be hosting or attending a gathering, so here is a fantastic (and easy!) cream biscuit recipe to try.  For brunch these go great with butter and jam, or make excellent egg sandwiches with ham and cheddar or peppers and Fontina.  If you are fond of eggs Benedict, these would be a superb choice to substitute for the English muffin. They also go perfectly with dinner to accompany a baked ham or a fried or roasted chicken. For dessert, cut in half and add sliced strawberries and whipped cream.  There are only five ingredients needed and you probably have at least four of them already in your kitchen.  This recipe yields eight biscuits but can easily be doubled. Recipe from America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book.

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream (do not substitute milk or half-and-half in this recipe; since there is no butter, the fat from the heavy cream is necessary to make these biscuits tender)

Directions

1. Adjust an oven rack to the upper-middle position and heat the oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl.  Stir in the cream with a wooden spoon until a dough forms, about 30 seconds.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and gather into a ball. Knead the dough briefly until smooth, about 30 seconds.
3. Pat the dough into an 8-inch round, about 3/4-inch thick.  Using a floured 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter or upside down drinking glass, stamp out 8 biscuits, gently patting the dough scraps back into a uniform 3/4-inch thick piece as needed. Arrange the biscuits, upside down, on the prepared baking sheet, spaced about 1 1/2 inches apart. If doubling the recipe, bake only one sheet at a time.
4. Bake the biscuits until lightly browned, 15 to 17 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool for about 5 minutes, then serve warm.