Friday, January 21, 2011

Cat Head Biscuits

Recently I heard about Cat Head biscuits.  So named because they are as big as a cat's head.  Imagine my surprise when I found a magazine in the grocery store full of "must try" recipes, including one for Cat Head Biscuits.  The magazine is "The Best of America's Test Kitchen",and had a hefty price of  $9.95. Feeling adventurous, I grabbed the magazine a quart of buttermilk and a box of cake flour and considered myself armed to "make biscuit", as we say in the South.

 Would My Biscuits Look Like This?
Suze ~ One of My Resident Cats


No stranger to making biscuit, I wondered how these would turn out as they are so big.  Would they cook in the middle or leave me with a soggy mess?  I'm not a big fan of "dumped" biscuits, preferring to roll them out and cut them with a biscuit cutter. My upbringing was such that the only people who pinch, pat or dump biscuits are those who can't use a rolling pin.  Never mind my apprehensions.  The people at the Test Kitchens must know more than me, right?  I would bake these anomalies, just as the recipe directed. 


Cat Head Biscuits 

1 1/2 c flour 
1 1/2 c cake flour
1 tbls baking powder 
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda 
8 tbls butter 
4 tbls solid shortening 
1 1/4 c buttermilk

Combine the dry ingredients.  Cut in the butter and shortening. Stir in the buttermilk.  Grease a 1/2 cup measure and dump the dough by 1/2 cup-fulls into a greased 9 inch cake pan.  One biscuit in the middle and 5 around the edge (daisy style).  Bake at 425* for 20 to 25 minutes.



I must say, the biscuits came out delicious.  Those people in America's Test Kitchens are on to something. The Cat Head biscuits were very light because of the cake flour with a crispy top and bottom.  They were a tad sweet because of the buttermilk and had me wondering when do you cross the line between biscuits and cake. Just short of heavenly,  these biscuits are not well suited for slicing to slip in a piece of sausage and they broke apart while dabbing on jelly. This could be the ultimate biscuit recipe, but the next time I'll be using my rolling pin. 




3 comments:

  1. I'll have to give them a try! (This is Becky)

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  2. I cut them open with a fork instead of a knife and drizzled honey onto the opened biscuit, closed it.. . . Heavenly. To roll it, I'd figure that lightly kneading it several times before rolling it and brushing melted butter on each cut biscuit before baking would do well. Thanks for this recipe. I lost the original recipe and didn't want to pay for it again on the Test Kitchens web site. After eating one today, I'll die a happy woman (just kidding :-).

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    1. Oh, one more thing. . . . I don't Ever use the usual baking powders in the supermarkets, as they usually contain aluminum, give a metallic taste to food and do not rise nearly as well as my favorite baking powder. The hands down favorite is Rumfords. If Rumfords cannot be found, try Bob's Red Mills Baking Powder. . .

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