My mom made some really good biscuits. Anytime she would make that large restaurant style pan of biscuits, I was right there to grab a couple as soon as it cooled of just a little.
She would mix that flour and butter, it was really margarine, together with some evaporated milk. And then she would flour the kitchen countertop, add the dough and flatten it out with her hand. I never saw a rolling pin. I didn't know what a rolling pin was until later in life. Once she had it flattened to her desired thickness, she would grab a drinking glass, dip it in the flour bag and then use it to cut out her biscuits.
One by one she would place those biscuits into her greased baking pan, and bake them until golden brown and delicious. Later it registered to me that, I can do that. Boy was I wrong.
I tried and tried and every single time I pulled those biscuits out of the oven, they were as hard as hockey pucks. In fact, the NHL called me about using them as a cheaper alternative to pucks. Okay, I'm just jiving about that. But after numerous failed attempts to make biscuits, I noticed one difference.
My mom would take the margarine out of the refrigerator and let it sit on the countertop. So one summer day, we were on summer break from school and I decided that I'm gonna make some biscuits.
So I took the margarine out of the refrigerator and placed it on the countertop and I went outside and sat, IN THE DITCH. That's another story for another time.
After an hour or so, I went back inside and gave that margarine a squeeze and it was nice and soft. So I added some self-rising flour to a bowl like my mom did, along with the softened margarine and mixed it all together. Then I added the evaporated milk slowly until I got the stiff consistency that I saw my mom get.
And just like her, I floured the countertop and flattened my dough out. Grabbed a drinking glass and began cutting my biscuits out and adding them to my greased pan. In the old school oven they went. You know the old school oven with the baking part on top and the broiler on the bottom.
So I got those biscuits in the oven, let them cook for several minutes, and then moved them under the broiler for a few minutes. After about five minutes, SUCCESS!!! My biscuits came out golden brown, soft, fluffy, and perfect. I sent a couple to my cousin and he said that he was sleeping and chewing those biscuits at the same time.
For the rest of us, we sat IN THE DITCH and enjoyed those biscuits
