Biscuit Baking Mix -- The Recipe Mama Finally Handed Down

I turned seventeen on January 4th and I woke up that morning thinking about time the way you think about it when you have had a year like 2020 — with gratitude that is also a little bit disbelief. Another year. Still here. Still cooking, still writing, still building toward something. Still the person who makes the black-eyed peas and brings food to doorsteps and writes things down so they won't be lost.

Seventeen feels different from sixteen. Sixteen was the license and the first real taste of independence. Seventeen is the year you apply to college, the year the decisions you have been making all along start to cash out or not. I was not afraid of it. I had worked too hard and too long to be afraid of what the work was going to deliver.

Mama made my birthday dinner: smothered pork chops and dirty rice and the works. And this year — finally, after three years of waiting — she sat me down in the kitchen at noon and taught me her biscuit recipe. The Christmas biscuits that had been her domain since I could remember. She showed me everything: the cold butter cubed and worked in by hand, the cold buttermilk added in stages, the touch of the dough when it was right, the folding, the not-overworking. She talked while she worked, naming what she was doing and why. I listened with my full attention. When I made the second batch myself she stood beside me and said nothing and they came out perfect. She said, "Now you have it." I said, "Now I have it." Four years in the waiting. Worth every single one.

Mama’s Christmas biscuits were never written down anywhere — they lived in her hands, in the way she worked the butter without overworking the dough, in the timing she knew by feel. Now that she’s passed that knowledge to me, I wanted a version I could make my own and share, starting with the biscuit baking mix that makes the whole thing possible any morning of the year. This is the foundation she built those perfect biscuits on, and now it’s mine to build on too.

Biscuit Baking Mix

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 12 min | Total Time: 22 min | Servings: 12 biscuits

Ingredients

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
• 1 cup cold buttermilk (plus more as needed)

Instructions

1. Combine dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar until evenly mixed.
2. Work in the cold butter. Add the cubed cold butter to the flour mixture. Using your fingertips, work the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbles with pea-sized pieces remaining. Do not overwork — cold butter is what makes the layers.
3. Add the buttermilk. Pour in the cold buttermilk in two stages, stirring gently with a fork after each addition just until the dough comes together. It should be shaggy and slightly sticky, not smooth.
4. Fold and shape. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Fold it over itself 3–4 times — no more — then pat to about 3/4-inch thickness. Cut into rounds with a floured biscuit cutter or glass, pressing straight down without twisting.
5. Bake. Place biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet with sides touching for soft edges, or spaced apart for crispier sides. Bake at 425°F (220°C) for 10–12 minutes, until golden on top and cooked through.
6. Serve warm. Brush tops with melted butter straight from the oven if desired. Serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 220 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 11g | Carbs: 27g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 380mg