It’s true; this is my final post for our Nashville lives as we’ve accepted an offer on the house and we are moving back up north to our home state of Michigan!  The hubs defended his thesis and achieved his doctorate this past week!  It’s over and we can all collectively breathe a huge sigh of relief and begin celebrating… right after we pack up and move 550 miles away into my in-law’s house, then find a house to buy and move again.  Whew!  In the midst of selling a house, packing up a home, and saying goodbye to my employer of 17 years, my baby turned one and is walking and starting to talk.  He can say “mumma”, “dad-dee” and “high five” while giving you a high-fiver.  It’s amazing to watch him try to emulate everything his big brother does.

It took a couple of tries but it looks like this time our house sale is going through.  And thank goodness because my stomach can’t take much more stress and the tension knots in my shoulders are hulk-like at this point.  Nashville has been very good to me.  Over the past ELEVEN years here I have been on my own for the first time in my life, lived in a super cool industrial converted, downtown loft, eaten foie gras on toast, learned how to bake, forged a forever friendship, met and married my amazing husband and had two beautiful sons; a fruitful stay to say the least!  While we will definitely miss our sweet nanny the most, we are happy to be moving closer to family and friends and eager for what our Michigan futures will bring.

That being said, this biscuit recipe is my ode to Nashville; my final swan song of a Nashville dedicated post.  People down here are particular about their biscuits and everyone has a favorite, it seems.  This recipe is my favorite biscuit.  Chewy, soft  dense and light all at the same time, it’s basically my pal Mindy’s recipe for drop biscuits adapted to ingredients you (hopefully) already have.  I’ve made it my own, kind of like what I had to do upon moving here metaphorically with my life!  No self-rising flour?  Make your own with baking powder and salt.  No buttermilk?  Make your own with plain yogurt and milk.  The rest is pretty simple and in 30 minutes flat, you can be eating a homemade hot buttered, salty biscuit!

First things first, preheat the oven to 450°F and get started on making your own self-rising flour.  To be honest, do they even sell this up north?  Unsure.  Anyway, when in a bind, it’s easy to make your own.  For every one cup of all purpose flour, add in 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 a teaspoon of salt.  So we’ll begin with 2 cups of AP flour.  To turn that into self-rising we are going to whisk in 3 teaspoons of baking powder and 1 teaspoon of salt.  I also like to add coarsely ground black pepper, like put your pepper grinder on the biggest setting and get some chunks in there with four or five good grinder cranks.  I swear the baking process will soften the pepper.  Add 1 tablespoon of sugar to the dry mix and whisk all the ingredients together well.

Next step involves a pastry cutter.  If you don’t have one you can use two knives or even your fingers if you are feeling confident.  As Ina says, “clean hands are a cook’s best tool”.  Anyway, take a pastry cutter and cut the butter into the flour mixture until you have pea sized butter pieces.  I cut up my butter into small cubes before adding it to the flour, this makes less work for you in the bowl.

Once you’ve determined you’ve got pea sized shaped butter pieces, move on to the yogurt portion of the recipe.  If you have buttermilk on hand feel free to use it instead but honestly who keeps buttermilk in their fridge all the time?  Not me. Measure 3/4 of a cup of plain yogurt (I like to use at least 2% yogurt – please do not use nonfat) and plop it into a measuring cup.  Pour milk over the yogurt until you reach the 1 1/2 cup line and whisk until no chunks of yogurt remain.

Using a big spoon, mix the yogurt into the dry mix until well combined.  The biscuit batter should be pretty wet and gloopy, kind of like a firm cottage cheese. If you feel like it’s too dry, splash in a bit more milk.  All of the flour should be absorbed.

Add in the shredded cheddar cheese and mix until combined.  You are now ready for biscuit-making.

On a plate, sprinkle 1/4 cup of flour and crank some more coarse pepper over the top of it.  Heavily butter a round 9″ cake tin.  Using a ice-cream scooper, scoop up a slightly larger sized golfball portion of batter onto the plate with the flour.  Coat the scoop of batter with the flour, shaking off the excess, and place it into the buttered round cake pan.  Repeat until you’ve used up all the batter.

Place biscuits in 450°F oven for 18 minutes.  Brush the tops with melted butter and sprinkle with coarse salt., like Maldon. Serve with jam or slice in half, toast and make a ham and cheese biscuit sammie.  YUM.

Cheddar Yogurt Drop Biscuits:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups self-rising flour (2 cups flour, 3 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt) plus another 1/4 cup reserved
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 4-5 cranks freshly coarsely ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup cold butter, cut into small cubes (5 1/3 tablespoons)
• 3/4 cup Greek 2% (or higher fat) plain yogurt
• 3/4 cup 2% milk (or higher fat milk if you have it)
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• finishing salt (couple of pinches)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 450°F, grease a 9″ cake tin, and gather the ingredients.
2. Mix together self-rising flour (see above how to make it if you don’t have it on hand), sugar, and pepper in a medium sized bowl.
3. Cube the butter into small chunks and cut into the flour until the butter is pea sized.
4. Prepare the yogurt-milk; mix 3/4 cup of Greek yogurt into a large measuring cup, then pour milk over until the measurement reaches 1 1/2 cups total.  Whisk until no lumps remain.
5. Mix the yogurt-milk into the dry mix until all the flour is combined with the yogurt-milk.  It should be gloopy and wet.
6. Mix in the cheddar cheese.
7. Prepare flour dredging dish, pour 1/4 cup flour onto a large plate and crank more coarse black pepper over top of flour (AP flour or more self-rising – it doesn’t matter for this part)
8. Using a scooper or two spoons, fashion golfballs sized rounds and coat each round in the flour on the plate before dropping it into the greased pan.  Work until all the batter is used.
9. Bake at 450°F for 18-20 minutes, or until top is browned.
10. Spread butter over top of biscuits then sprinkle finishing salt on tops.