If you’re new to baking, biscuits are a great place to start. They’re really hard to mess up. We have two simple biscuit recipes and alternate between them depending on what life is throwing at us at the time.
The first biscuit recipe below is more involved than the second and requires two hands, so we dubbed it Sleeping Baby Biscuits. Wait until the baby’s asleep before trying this biscuit recipe. The second is easy to whip up with one hand in a matter of minutes. You can mix these up while holding a screaming baby in one hand, so this simple biscuit recipe is aptly named Screaming Baby Biscuits.
When the baby is asleep, give this biscuit recipe a try:
- 2 cups flour (of your choice)
- 3-4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar (if you don’t have it, skip it! It adds a little fluff to the biscuits, but so does the baking powder, so don’t worry about it.)
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1/2 cup butter
- 2/3 cup water or milk
- Preheat oven to 450.
- Mix dry ingredients in one bowl.
- Cut in butter. (Cold butter cut into the flour using a pastry cutter or a back and forth motion with two table knives will lend a flaky texture to these biscuits. Seeing as we live in the real world, I often soften the butter and stir it in with a GASP wooden spoon.)
- Mix milk/water and honey in another bowl. (Okay, fine, I just dump them both in the flour/butter mixture…and I don’t actually measure my honey.) Add to dry ingredients.
- Mix until it holds together. Then dump it onto a lightly floured surface and knead about a dozen times.
- Flatten the dough gently and cut with a biscuit cutter or the top of a cup or glass into about 12 biscuits.
- If you like crusty edges, place the biscuits on a baking sheet about two inches apart. If you like softer edges from a “pull-apart” biscuit, put them close together in a pan. You may brush the tops with melted butter or milk, but again, real world!
- I like to let them rest for about twenty minutes before baking, but, seriously, my babies don’t sleep that long, so I usually just throw them in the oven. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes or until they are done to your liking.
If the baby is not cooperating, opt for this very simple biscuit recipe:
- 2 cups flour (of your choice)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/3 cup oil (sometimes I use butter)
- 2/3 cup milk or water
- Preheat oven to 425.
- Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.
- Mix wet ingredients in another bowl. (I use a glass measuring cup to save on dishes.)
- Combine with your hands, a spoon, your child’s hands, whatever.
- Grab by handfuls and drop on a baking sheet. It makes around 12, depending on the size you like.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes.
- For a more pastry-like texture, use a 50/50 ratio of oil/butter to milk/water. Screaming Baby Biscuits are great left out over night uncovered for morning grazing. Serve with honey and butter.
The original version of the Sleeping Baby Biscuits recipe comes from a really old, tattered, yellowed Better Homes and Gardens cookbook my husband and I bought for a quarter at a garage sale nearly two decades ago. The Screaming Baby Biscuits recipe is from my mom, who is not old, tattered, or yellowed, but who makes great biscuits.
Enjoy these simple biscuit recipes!