These Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits take me back home. I come from a biscuit loving family. We take our biscuits rather seriously. My Dad makes what he calls Mile High Biscuits. They’re light and buttery, a beautiful golden color, and we always ate them hot with dinner. We were generally a happy family of 4 sitting around the dinner table, sharing a meal, laughing, and talking about our days. Biscuit night was always a different story. On biscuit nights, there was, without a doubt, scandal and conflict.
Why? Well Dad always made a recipe of 12 biscuits. Now let’s do the math- 12 biscuits for 4 people, that’s 3 each. The problem is, no one never ended up with three biscuits. Three words- my little sister. My sister, the biscuit strategist, would cunningly place the biscuit basket at her side of the table, and with great stealth, gather about 8 biscuits for herself over the course of dinner. I must admit, the girl is clever. And with her darling smile and endless charm, she always got away with the lion’s share of biscuits. Always! I’d stomp my feet, outraged, pleading “But Mom…! It’s not fair!” Mom would calmly reply “Joy, who said life was fair? Now eat your broccoli before it gets cold.”At that point, defeated, I usually just ate my one biscuit slowly, while trying to shoot my sister down with the evil eye. Mom was right though- life isn’t always fair, sometimes your sister just gets more biscuits than you, and steamed broccoli once it’s cold, is just wretched.
As always, my Tuesdays are dedicated to Dorie Greenspan, and the Tuesdays with Dorie ladies. This basic biscuit recipe is dressed up with brown sugar, toasted pecans and sour cream. The biscuit is slightly sweeter than a traditional biscuit, and the toasted pecans add a delicious crunch. They will certainly satisfy any biscuit craving. This recipe yielded about 14 biscuits. I ate every single one with strawberry preserves. And that’s fair.
Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
5 Tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into 10 peices
1/2 cup cold sour cream
1/4 cup cold whole milk
1/3 cup finely chopped pecans, preferably toasted.
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Get out a sharp 2-inch diameter biscuit cuter, and line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.
Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda together in a bowl. Stir in the brown sugar, making certain there are no lumps. Drop in the butter, and using your fingers, toss and coat the pieces of butter with the flour. Quickly, working with your fingertips (my favorite method) or a pastry blender, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly. You’ll have pea sized pieces, pieces the size of oatmeal flakes, and pieces the size of everything in between- and that’s just right.
Stir the sour cream and milk together and pour over the dry ingredients. Grab a fork and gently toss and turn the ingredients together until you’ve got a nice soft dough. Now reach into the bowl with your hands and give the dough a quick gently kneading- 3 or 4 turns should be enough to bring everything together. Toss in the pecans and knead another 2 or 3 times to incorporate them.
Lightly dust a work surface with flour and turn out the dough. Dust the top of the dough very lightly with flour and pat the dough out with your hands or roll it with a pin until it is about 1/2 inch high. Don’t worry if the dough isn’t ocmpletely even- a quick light touch is more important that accuracy.
Use the biscuit cutter to cut out as many biscuits as you can. Try to cut the biscuits close to one another so you get the most out of the first round. By hand, or with a small spatula, transfer the biscuits to a baking sheet. Gather together the scraps, woring them as little as possible, pat out to a 1/2 inch thickness and cut as many additional biscuits as you can; transfer to baking sheet. (The biscuits can be made at this point and frozen on the baking sheed, then wrapped airtight and kept in the freezer for up to 2 months. Bake without defrosting, just add a couple more minutes to the oven time.)
Bake the biscuits for 14-18 minutes, or until they are tall, puffed and golden brown. Transfer them to a serving basket, and serve immediately.
Erin
Your biscuits look delicious. I bet they are great with strawberry jam. I grew up loving biscuits too!
superluckykitchen
my brother used to snag all the biscuits. . . maybe its time i made my own
Danielle
Ha! Great story! Sounds something my brother would have done to me in my youth. As, always beautiful job. I covet all the yummy morsels in your blog!
Judy
Now you can make all the biscuits you want to eat. They look delicious.
Hilary
After seeing your photos, I realize that maybe mine came out the right color after all. I kept thinking they were too brown!
Madam Chow
I am outraged by your sister’s biscuit theft! That story brought back memories for me. So you got your revenge by becoming a pastry chef. Hah! Really though, your biscuit with that jam looks marvelous.
Tempered Woman
Ha! You are too funny. I have to admit I was the oldest of 3 girls and my mom use to let me have any of the extras. So not fair. But in the grand scheme of things I’m pretty sure my hips are paying the price to this day.
Biscuits look absolutely delish!
Patricia Scarpin
Wow, these look delish!
Marie
Great looking biscuits! Loved the biscuit story as well! Aren’t you glad that you are all grown up now and can make yourself as many biscuits as you want to eat!
Cakespy
I consider myself a true biscuit lover, and so this was a lovely post to come across. These look like a fine specimen of one of my favorite treats!
CB
I love that last picture! Absolute fab! Great job!
-Clara
mary
biscuits and jam…nothing beats it! it’s fun to make food that has fond memories attached….great job
Lemon Tartlet
Can beat ya! Supper with 12 other amazon kids, and punching was allowed.
Love your picture of the biscuits, it’sso cute scooched over to the isde. Preserves are a must on these.
laurie
They are adorable! Mmm, strawberry jam on top sounds fab too.
I grew up with 4 boys at the table. You don’t need to tell me about fighting over food. And the girl never wins.
Mari
Just wanted to say, that I love your blog, and your goodies!