Have you ever eaten a biscuit and thought ‘oh my lanta, this is the best thing I have ever eaten, can I have another?’ Well, one of my favorite breakfast spots is a casual diner that serves biscuits just like that! Now I’ve made biscuits before, I have a great recipe for Everything Bagel Biscuits, but they focus on flaky, buttery layers. Not that that’s not good, it’s fantastic, but for these biscuits I wanted them to be extra light and fluffy.
I did some research and found that soft biscuits are called Cathead Biscuits. Confused? So was I, mostly because I’m more of a dog person 😉 These types of biscuits traditionally come from the south, and apparently it means the biscuits are the size of a cat’s head. For this recipe, I use the largest biscuit cutter I have, anywhere from 2 3/4 inch to 3 inch diameter. Traditional southern biscuits are made with flour with lower protein and gluten producing softer biscuits. After testing several batches of these I finally found the winning combination, so read below to find out what flour I landed on!
Whats the key to fluffy biscuits?
- Flour: What flour you use depends on the texture of your biscuits. If you want soft and fluffy biscuits, you have to use flour with lower gluten and protein. That’s why this recipe calls for two different types of flour: all-purpose and cake flour. Cake flour has the lowest amount of gluten, ranging from 7-9%, while all-purpose ranges from 8-11%. You can substitute all-purpose flour but the texture will not be the same. Believe me, it’s worth it to buy both types 🙂
- Cold ingredients: If you’ve made biscuits before you know that cold butter and buttermilk are necessary! Whisk all of your dry ingredients together before using a pastry cutter to cut your butter in. After the butter is in small, pea-sized pieces.
- Do not overwork your dough: The more the dough is worked, the more the gluten is activated. This will produce tougher dough. Sometimes I will use a food processor over a pastry blender, but you have to be careful only mix until your ingredients are just barely combined. Do not knead the dough like you would bread, simply flatten it with your hands, cut in half, layer on top of the other dough, and press down gently again. Repeat four to five times.
What makes this recipe fantastic? The salted honey butter. Have you ever drizzled honey on a Chick-fil-a breakfast biscuit? Well, I’m not from the south so I had to be taught these things. I would never think to drizzle honey over a spicy chicken biscuit but man, it’s incredible! This butter reminds me of the delicious pockets of butter and syrup you get in your waffles. It’s so so delicious and honestly can be used on any other breakfast item!
If you are looking for a soft and tender biscuit, these are your winner! The biscuits alone are fantastic and we will make breakfast sandwiches out of them, but they are out of this world with the honey butter. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below if you decide to try them!
Soft Buttermilk Biscuits with Salted Honey butter
Ingredients
For the biscuits:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups cake flour
- 2 tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 8 tbsp salted butter, cold 1 stick
- 2 cups buttermilk, cold
- 2 tbsp salted butter, melted for brushing the tops of the biscuits!
For the honey butter:
- 8 tbsp salted butter, room temperature 1 stick
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
For the biscuits:
- Preheat the oven to 475° and prepare a baking sheet with sides with nonstick cooking spray. In a large bowl stir together both flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Use a pastry blender to cut butter into the flour mixture until the butter is in small pea-sized pieces. Pour in buttermilk and mix with a rubber spatula until just barely combined. Do not over mix! (You can also mix the dough in a food processor: Pulse to combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add butter and pulse until it resembles small pea-sized pieces. Pour in buttermilk through the feed tube and pulse until just barely combined.)
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Flour your hands and lightly press the dough down into a square. Cut in half, layer on top of the other dough, and press down gently again. Give the dough a small turn and repeat four or five times. (You do not want to overwork the dough)
- Add more flour to your hands and lightly push out the dough to be evenly ¾ inch thick. Use a 3-inch round cutter dipped in flour and cut out the biscuits. Only press straight down, do not twist or they will not bake evenly! Layer the leftover dough on top of each other and lightly press down again to ¾-inch. Repeat until all of the dough has been used.
- Place the biscuits on the prepared baking sheet. To keep the biscuits extra soft, I place them so they are touching. Any side not touching will become crispy, so it's up to you and how you like your biscuits! Brush each biscuit with melted butter before baking.
- Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until just golden brown. Do not over bake or the biscuits will not be as soft!
For the salted honey butter:
- While the biscuits are baking, make the salted honey butter. In a medium-sized bowl combine room temperature butter, vanilla, and honey. If you aren't using salted butter, add ½ tsp kosher salt. Using a handheld mixer or whisk, beat together the ingredients until smooth and set aside.
- Once the biscuits are baked through, pull from the oven and let cool on the pan for 3 minutes. Slice in half and spread on honey butter.
These biscuits are so simple and delicious!!
These biscuits are amazing and the salted honey butter is to die for! I use the salted honey butter now all the time as it is the perfect addition to a lot!
Note: I prefer local honey as it really adds extra flavor