Freeze and Bake Buttermilk Biscuits

Tender, buttery buttermilk biscuits that can be made then frozen until you need to bake them are perfect for rushed Thanksgiving or Christmas mornings.  Get a batch in your freezer today and you can thank me later. 

Ever since the theme #beingthankful for today’s Sunday Supper was added to our forum, I have been mulling over what I am most thankful for.  So I started writing this post with a very long list of blessings.

Then, as we sat down to eat dinner the other night, I was telling my husband all about it.  He said immediately, “Make sure you mention seatbelts.”  And I deleted everything I’d written so far and started over.

He called in the wee hours of the still dark morning, his voice shaking.  “We’ve been in an accident.  Head on.  We are okay.  Just come.”  It was 16 March 2003 and our elder daughter was in sixth grade.  Her school, the International School of Kuala Lumpur, had (still has!) a fabulous program for all Middle School students that required that they leave home for one week and experience rustic life in various environments, river, beach and mountain, all in the wilds of Malaysia.  Depending on the location chosen, there were no bathrooms, few creature comforts and students cooked their own meals.  Just lots of fresh air, exercise, experiential learning and team building.  Her bag was packed and as she slept that night, I laid in my bed and prayed before her early morning departure.  “Keep the angels around her.  Keep her safe.”  We had agreed that her father would take her to catch the bus, to avoid having to wake up her little sister so early on a Sunday.

The wildly flashing lights and horrific traffic as we approached in the dark almost completely undid me.  Another driver had fallen asleep at the wheel and crossed the highway median.  My husband and daughter both had serious seatbelt bruises across their chests and abdomens.  Her glasses flew off and out of the car on impact.  We never did find them.  And there was blood everywhere from the cuts caused by the shower of broken glass.  But they walked away from the totaled car.  Because they had their seatbelts on.

The red car was ours.  The cars were towed to the police station from the site of the accident. 

Seatbelts do save lives and words cannot express the enormity of my gratitude to Nils Bohlin, the inventor of the three-point belt now standard on most cars and to his employer, Volvo, which didn’t patent the invention but made the design available to all manufacturers.  Buckle up, folks.

If I hadn’t rewritten this post, way on down the list of large then small blessings, you’d have found these biscuits.  Because they are easy to make and easy to bake.  They bake up light and fluffy, whether you bake them immediately or after some time in the freezer.  They are a blessing on a busy day.

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup or 115g cold unsalted butter
3/4 cup or 180ml cold buttermilk
Extra flour for the counter top and rolling pin
Small splash of milk for brushing on biscuits before baking.  (Perhaps 1/4 cup or 60ml if you are baking the whole batch at once.)

Method
If you are planning to bake some of the batch after making it, preheat the oven to 400°F or 200°C and spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.  If you are going to freeze any, line a baking sheet with parchment paper or wax paper and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt and whisk it all together.

Take your cold butter out of the refrigerator and cut it into small chunks directly into the flour mixture.

Use a pastry blender or two knives to work the butter into the flour.  It should turn a bit crumbly looking but you don’t want to get the pieces too tiny.  There should still be some butter visible. This is what helps the biscuits bake flakey, rather like rough puff pastry.

Now pour the buttermilk into the bowl and stir it around till a dough form.

Flour your work surface and tip the dough out onto it.

Knead a few times until it’s not too sticky to handle, sprinkling on a bit more flour, if necessary.

Roll the dough out with your rolling pin till it’s about half an inch or 1 cm thick.  Use a floured cookie cutter or drinking glass to cut out circles of dough and place them on your prepared pan (or pans, if you are baking AND freezing.)

Knead the leftover dough and roll it out again and cut more biscuits, until all the dough is used up.  My cookie cutter is 2 3/4in or 7cm across and this recipe made 13 full size biscuits and one little leftover-dough one.

I froze all of mine.  You'll want to space them farther apart if you are baking.  

Brush the biscuits with a little milk and bake for 12-15 minutes or until they are lightly browned on top and lovely and golden brown on the bottom.

Put the pan of unbaked biscuits in the freezer for several hours.  After they have frozen, pop them off the parchment paper and put them in a Ziploc bags.

To bake from frozen, put the biscuits on a greased cookie sheet and then preheat the oven to 400°F or 200°C.  My oven takes about 15-20 minutes to get up to temperature and by that time, the biscuits are completely thawed.  If your oven is quicker, just take the biscuits out a little earlier, before you preheat.  Bake according to the instructions above.

Don't let the fact that they have butter already in them stop you from adding more! 

 

They also go ever so nicely with jam or syrup. 

Once last thing I’m thankful for today, besides you, my lovely readers, is the Sunday Supper group and our lovely host, Paula from Vintage Kitchen Notes.  You will never meet a nicer or more talented collection of food bloggers anywhere!  It is my honor and privilege to bake and cook with them most Sundays, encouraging folks to spend time together around the family dinner table.

What are you thankful for this year?

FIRST COURSE / APPETIZERS  

• Harvest Soup from Bea of The Not So Cheesy Kitchen 
• Horseradish Cranberry & Herbed Cheese Bites from Jen of Juanita's Cocina
• Savory Rosemary Baklava with Brie from Christie of A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures

SAVORY BREADS + STUFFING

• Cloverleaf Rolls from Micha of Cookin' Mimi
• Cornbread Stuffing with Chorizo and Craisins from Isabel at Family Foodie
• Easy Gluten-Free Corn "Bread" Stuffing from Laura at Small Wallet Big Appetite
• Freeze and Bake Buttermilk Biscuits from Stacy at Food Lust People Love
• Picnic Roll from Linda of The Urban Mrs
• Raspberry and Brie Crescent Rolls from Karen of In The Kitchen With KP    

MAIN DISHES

• Eggless Herb and Garlic Fresh Pasta from Sarah at What Smells So Good?
• Honey Orange Turkey Breast from Cindy at Cindy's Recipes and Writings    

SIDE DISHES

• Brussels Sprout Latkes from Susan atThe Girl In The Little Red Kitchen
• Cheesey Scalloped Potatoes from Shaina at Take A Bite Out Of Boca
• Cornucopia Sweet Potato Barley Salad from Wendy at The Weekend Gourmet
• Creamy Scalloped Corn from Alaiyo at Pescetarian Journal
• Fried Smashed Potatoes from Renee at Kudos Kitchen by Renee
• Grandpa's Simple Stuffing from Bobbi at Bobbi's Kozy Kitchen
• Green Beans with Pecans and Cranberries from Tara at Noshing With The Nolands
• Honey and Cinnamon Glazed Sweet Potatoes from Jennifer at Peanut Butter and Peppers
• Italian American Turkey Dressing from Anne at Webicurean
• Loaded Mashed Potato Bake from Lori at Foxes Love Lemons
• Maple Sweet Potatoes with Browned Butter Pecan Topping from Brianne at Cupcakes and Kale Chips
• Mushroom and Barley Casserole with Bacon, Gruyere and Spinach from Heather at Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Cranberries and Blue Cheese from Sarah at Curious Cuisiniere

DESSERTS + SWEET BREADS

• Almond Brioche Sticky Buns from Alice at Hip Foodie Mom
• Baked Caramel Apple Cider Donuts from Nicole at Daily Dish Recipes
• Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie from Cheryl at Hot Momma's Kitchen Chaos
• Blue Ribbon Meyer Lemon Mascarpone Cheesecake from Dorothy at Shockingly Delicious
• Bourbon Pecan Pie from Julie atThe Texan New Yorker
• Chocolate Moussecake from Liz at That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Cinnamon Rolls from Conni at The Foodie Army Wife
• Gingered Butternut Squash Tart from Renee of Magnolia Days
• Hanukkah Lemon Star Cookies from Shannon at Killer Bunnies, Inc
• Manischewitz, Cranberry Double Holiday Donuts from Kim at Ninja Baking 
• Mini Maple Sweet Potato Tarts from Holly at Mess Makes Food
• Mini Pumpkin Pies from Nichole at Casa de Crews
• Mom's Custard Pie from Courtney at Neighborfood
• No Bake Pumpkin Spiced Cheesecake from Tammi of Momma's Meals
• Plum and Blackberry Crumble from Katy at Happy Baking Days
• Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake from Heather at girlichef
• Salted Butterscotch Pudding from Jane at Jane's Adventures in Dinner
• Salted Caramel Apple Pie from Laura at Pies and Plots
• Sweet Potato Pecan Gingersnap Pie from Paula at Vintage Kitchen Notes    

WANT WINE WITH THAT?

• All American Wine Pairing Guide for Being Thankful from Martin at ENOFYLZ Wine Blog