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.