Matthew’s grandma Quinn made delicious homemade biscuits. He can remember her spending long periods of time before meals mixing the ingredients by hand, cutting out the biscuits and baking them in the oven. Her biscuits were small, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

Homemade biscuits, like many other treats, do not exist in today’s kitchen.

Many people just aren’t interested in taking the time to make things like biscuits. They’d rather stop at the local fast food chicken joint and grab a box to go with dinner.

Not so at our house. Molly makes delicious biscuits that rival what you’d find at a Cracker Barrel or your favorite country restaurant. And they’re not THAT difficult to make. They don’t take that long to bake either.

Molly’s side of the family and my side of the family both have a history of cooking and baking. If your family does, too, or if you’d like to add a simple homemade touch to breakfast or dinner, try out this recipe.

Ingredients

2 cups self-rising flour

1/2 cup shortening

3/4 cup milk (some people use buttermilk; we prefer regular)

Step one:

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees, and blend your flour and shortening with two forks, with your bare hands or, the easiest route, in an electric stand mixer.

Step two:

Stir/blend in your milk.

Step three:

Form your biscuits and place on an ungreased pan.

Step four:

Bake for 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

Yield: Makes 9 average-sized biscuits.

Matthew’s Take: I love homemade biscuits, and I can eat them with any meal with many accompaniments. They’re delicious at breakfast with jelly on them. They’re delicious with lunch, or dinner with a meat and veggies meal. They’re delicious for dessert with an apple butter, a jelly, or even with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce on top. Molly’s biscuits are as good as any homemade biscuits I’ve ever eaten. They’re soft throughout, without being doughy inside or out. I look forward to the times when she makes these biscuits because I know they’re not the hardest thing to make and they are so versatile. They get an A+ for taste, an A+ for cost because the ingredients aren’t expensive and last for a while if you don’t make biscuits every day, and they get an A for presentation because what Southerner doesn’t get excited about a homemade biscuit?

Molly’s Take: I made these biscuits for a long time before I realized that the recipe should yield 9 regular-sized biscuits. I used to make six biscuits out of this one recipe! But you can (and should) make 9-10. This is my favorite way to make biscuits, because it’s simple, they cook into a beautiful golden brown color, and they taste like home. There’s just something better about a homemade biscuit. The other great thing about these is that they really are cheap to make. One bag of self-rising flour, a huge can of shortening and a gallon of milk (all purchased at your local Aldi, of course) will last you for a while, through many rounds of biscuit-making, and won’t cost that much. This is my best recipe for biscuits. And I’m sharing it with you!