Cornmeal Biscuits and Honey Butter
Hi, y’all. Sorry that it’s been a bit quiet around here for a while. I had company visiting and didn’t get around to getting up last week’s post. But things should be getting back to normal and on schedule now. I’ve got some recipes coming that I’m really excited to share in the coming week’s and today’s is one of them, so let’s just jump right into it.
Surprise!
Yet another biscuit post. You excited yet? You should be. Biscuits alone are exciting to me, but these especially since they feature one of my favorite ingredients to both bake and cook with: cornmeal.
I’ve said before that I have a mild obsession with cornmeal and the proof is in the amount of baked goods I’ve shared already on the blog. Take your pick, really. Cornbread. Yeast bread. Scones. Crackers. Some of it’s savory, some of it sweet. It’s a versatile ingredient and if you’re not familiar with it, allow me to strongly recommend you try to incorporate it into your baking routine. I think there are very few things that can’t be improved with a bit of cornmeal added to them.
I’ve shared a recipe for cornmeal biscuits on the blog before, but that one was also flavored with ginger and Chinese Five Spice to pair with some fried chicken that I also flavored with five spice. This time around, I decided to go with more ordinary, traditional flavors that would produce a biscuit that could go with any kind of meal.
So what’s the role that cornmeal plays in a biscuit? I’ve found that cornmeal (yellow cornmeal, that is) does two things to a biscuit: first it’s going to provide a contrast of texture that wouldn’t necessarily be in a biscuit made with just white flour. Don’t worry: it’s not at all going to be tough, but yellow cornmeal will make it slightly more grainy and chewy. Sounds weird, but I promise it’s marvelous. Second, yellow cornmeal has a natural savory flavor of its own. In the case of these biscuits, the cornmeal helps to further bring out the flavors of the salt and pepper in the dough.
Although these biscuits do lean on the savory side, I paired them with a smooth, honey butter spread that comes together in seconds. The butter brings a great balance between the savory & sweet of these biscuits as a dish and honestly, I could eat them all on their own without even needing to add them to a meal. If you try them yourself some time, you’ll understand why. Have a good week, everyone.
Sharing at this week’s Fiesta Friday #241, co-hosted this week by Zeba @ Food For The Soul and Debanita @ Canvassed Recipes.
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Cornmeal Biscuits and Honey Butter
Recipe Adapted from Country Living
Ingredients
For Biscuits
- 3 1/4 cups cake flour, spooned and level
- 3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 cup frozen butter
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
For Honey Butter
- 3/4 cup butter, softened
- 1/4 cup honey
Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Place a shallow pan of water on the bottom rack of the oven.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pepper.
Using the large holes on a box grater, grate the butter into the dry ingredients and stir a few times to combine. Make a well in the center of the bowl.
Pour the buttermilk into the well and use a large rubber spatula to stir the mixture together. If it seems a little dry you may add additional buttermilk until it forms a shaggy dough.Sprinkle a pastry mat, wooden cutting board or wax paper with flour. Turn the dough out onto the surface and pat a few times with your hands until it loosely holds together. (Don’t knead it too much or the warmth in your palms will melt the butter and cause the biscuits to be tough.)
Pat and roll the dough into a rectangle. Take the two opposite ends and fold them together like a business letter into thirds. Flip it upside down and pat & roll it into another rectangle, sprinkling the surface with flour if it gets too sticky. Repeat the folding process two to three more times before patting it into one final rectangle.
Use a bench scraper or very sharp knife to trim the edges of the rectangle. Use a 2 1/2-inch round cutter to cut biscuits, pressing and rolling the scraps together to make more biscuits two additional times. Discard the rest of the dough. Place biscuits, slightly touching, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Chill 15 minutes in the freezer.
Bake until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. (You may have to cover the biscuits with foil if they begin to brown too quickly.
For the Honey Butter: Use a fork to briskly stir the honey into the butter until it’s smooth. Store in the fridge.
Good rise on your biscuits Jess!
Thank you! Rise is second only to taste in what matters most to me in my biscuits. Even if they taste delicious, I still get so frustrated when they don’t rise high lol
These are absolute perfection! I’ve never made biscuits with cornmeal and now I have to have them. 😉
They’re so good Josette, I hope you enjoy these. Thank you!
They look so good!
Thank you–the taste doesn’t disappoint 😉
This is not helping my resolve to cut down on carbs yanno! 🙂
Lol sorry! But biscuits are worth it 😉
These look so yummy and beautiful!
Thank you!
Delicious looking biscuits Jess! For some reason biscuits are one of the things that I struggle with the most. Always under-cooked, over-cooked, don’t rise properly… clearly I need some pro tips from you! As always, I loved your Friday post. Even when I wasn’t blogging or commenting, I always loved seeing your posts in my email each week!
Aww, thank you so much Heather. That means a lot to me!
Trust, it’s been a wild ride for learning how to do biscuits for me. Lotta missteps along the way lol A few months back I did a post with all of my ‘cheat codes’ for the best results in biscuits, if you’re interested:
https://cookingismysport.com/2018/06/01/mile-high-biscuits/
Wow! These biscuits look abslutely stunning. What a lovely share! Thanks for sharing at Fiesta Friday!
Thank you so much!
Yes please!! These look amazing! You had me at honey butter, btw!!
It really does send the biscuits over the top. Thanks Mollie!
I’m a big Biscuit fan-these sound so good!
They exceeded this biscuit fan’s expectations, that’s for sure. Thank you Nancy!
These biscuits look incredible! I am going to try them. I doubt there was a week in my home growing up that we didn’t have biscuits at least two or three times!
Thank you Dorothy–I hope you enjoy them 😉