Biscuits Supreme Recipe

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Stir together the flour, baking
powder, sugar, cream of tartar and salt. Cut in the shortening until
the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Make a well in the center. Pour in the milk all at once. Stir just
until dough clings together; NO MORE.

Knead gently on a lightly floured surface for 10-12 strokes. Roll or
pat to about 1/2-inch thickness. Cut with a (about) 2 1/2-inch
biscuit cutter, dipping the cutter into flour before each cut.

Transfer to an ungreased baking sheet. Bake in a 450 degrees F oven
for 10-12 minutes, or until golden.

Lots of cookbooks tell you to use two knives, or some such, to do the
cutting-in of the first step. Forks work fine for me (I’m a klutz.)

All of the trick to making light, fluffy biscuits is in how you handle
them: THE LESS, THE BETTER. You can make these as drop biscuits (skip
the rolling; drop batter by tablespoons, and bake); they’re even
better for the lack of handling.

Outside North America you might not know what shortening is. Use
butter, margarine, copha or lard. Vegetable shortening really is
better for this recipe, but don’t forget lots of butter to put *on*
them…. I make these for study breaks. They disappear at an
exponential rate….

NOTES:

* Simple, fluffy biscuits — This originated in “The Better Homes and
Gardens Cookbook,” which I consider basic equipment for genteel
middle-class living. Here “biscuits” is the North American meaning of
the word and not the Commonwealth meaning of the word. In England
these would be called “scones.” Yield: makes 10-12.

: Difficulty: easy.
: Time: 10 minutes preparation, 10 minutes baking.
: Precision: measure the ingredients.

: Jean Marie Diaz
: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass., USA
: Ambar@athena.mit.edu