Biscuits for All Ingredients

And a special black sesame strawberry shortcake to make with said biscuits!

If there’s one thing you need to know about me, it’s that I freaking love biscuits. If we’re talking American breakfast carbs, biscuits are my #1. There’s nothing like a steaming hot biscuit, flaky layers just pulled apart and slathered with honey butter or drizzled with honey.

I didn’t grow up eating biscuits at all so I believe this love affair began when I spent two summers during college living in the south. I fell in love with southern living and food. There’s just a way of life that’s so different than the hustle of the north; biscuits remind me of that slower, rustic, cozy hospitality that I experienced.

The beauty of biscuits is that they come in so many different forms, all versatile and delicious in their own right. On one end, you have ultra tender, cloud-like biscuits, and on the other you have extra tall, flaky biscuits with millions of layers. I will not pass up either option but my ideal preference is somewhere in between.

I make biscuits for breakfast at least once a week. It’s usually a weekend thing when I have time to bake in the morning, but sometimes I can sneak them in during the week as well. The routine is to bake one cast iron pan of 6-7 biscuits. Two of them turn into breakfast sandwiches for my husband and I, one gets halved and drizzled with honey for us to split, and one plain biscuit goes to the kiddo. The remainder get stored and reheated the next morning for a repeat meal. Sometimes if we happen to have sausage, I’ll make a simple gravy for the iconic southern breakfast. Any way you spin it, I love our biscuit breakfasts.

The beauty of this newsletter is that I’m going to share with you THREE of my go-to biscuit recipes. Yes, three. They’re similar in ingredients but they all use different forms of dairy based on what you have available: buttermilk, yogurt, or milk. I regularly rotate between these three recipes based on what I have in my fridge. Each biscuit produces a different result texture-wise; due to this, each one lends itself better to certain applications. They’re all delicious, it’s mostly a matter of preference which one you will enjoy the most.

Three different biscuits, from left to right made with buttermilk, yogurt, and whole milk

The buttermilk biscuit is my favorite. It has a lovely fluffy interior with a crisp and crunchy top and bottom. It’s sturdy and holds up very well in sandwich form or with piled on fruit.

The yogurt biscuit is ultra tender and light with a noticeable crust that is softer. These are great served as a side with various butters.

The milk biscuit is the softest of the three. It has barely any “crust” and is tender all the way through. The almost cake-like texture is amazing drizzled with honey or slathered with jam.

Obviously, these three iterations are all still biscuits so you can use them however you want. I’m listing the textural differences and how you may want to utilize them in different applications. Although the buttermilk variation is my favorite, I don’t always have buttermilk in the fridge. I don’t always have yogurt either so that’s when the plain milk recipe comes in handy. Just use what you got!

The steps to biscuits: mixing dry ingredients, working in the butter, adding the dairy, mixing until combined, and cutting the biscuits

These recipes are also easy in that they’re all made in one bowl, no fuss, and come together quickly. You don’t need to use a food processor or frozen grated butter or even a rolling pin. While extra tall laminated biscuits are sights to behold, I don’t always have the time or desire to go through the process to make them. I think biscuits at their core are humble and I appreciate these recipes in their simplicity.

Picking strawberries is a yearly tradition for our family and we make these strawberry shortcakes (recipe also included below)!