Cornmeal Drop Biscuits

Thanksgiving prep. The church dinner is in two weeks, and I am chairing the food coordination again because stepping away from that would be admitting that something has changed, and while everything has changed, the Thanksgiving dinner doesn't need to know about it.

Twenty-two cooks. Same assignments, mostly. Sister Johnson still has the greens. Deacon Harris still has the rolls. Sister Thompson still has the mac and cheese. And I still have the turkey and the dressing and the gravy, because some things are mine and will be mine until I say otherwise.

The family Thanksgiving is different this year. I've decided — and this was hard, baby, this was the second hardest decision I've made since Earl died — I've decided to have it at the Thunderbolt house. Not at Denise's. At mine. In my kitchen. At my table. With Earl's place set and the plywood extension out if we need it and the same good plates and the same cloth napkins and the same prayer.

Denise argued. She said it was too much. She said I should let someone else host. I said, "Denise Marie Givens, I have cooked Thanksgiving dinner in this kitchen for thirty-three years and I will cook it in this kitchen for as many more years as the Lord and my knees allow. This is my house. This is my table. And if you want to help, you can peel the potatoes." She stopped arguing. She knows that tone.

I started the prep this week. Brined the turkey — a sixteen-pounder, because I still cook for a crowd even when the crowd has shrunk. Made the cornbread for the dressing, crumbled it, let it dry overnight. Soaked the cranberries. Bought the sweet potatoes. The kitchen smells like November now — sage and butter and onion and the promise of something enormous.

Now go on and feed somebody.

When I talk about making the cornbread for the dressing — crumbling it, letting it dry overnight, waiting for it to be ready — I’m really talking about these biscuits. They’re the starting place. Drop biscuits because I’m not here to fuss; cornmeal because that’s how it’s done; baked until golden because nothing on my Thanksgiving table comes out pale. If you’re feeding twenty-two cooks or just your own stubborn, beloved family, this is where the dressing begins — and where the whole table remembers it’s still standing.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 14 minutes | Total Time: 24 minutes | Servings: 12 biscuits

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Instructions

Preheat. Heat oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Combine dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar until evenly combined.
Cut in butter. Add the cold butter cubes to the flour mixture and work them in with your fingertips or a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles coarse, pea-sized crumbs. Keep the butter cold — don’t overwork it.
Add wet ingredients. Pour in the buttermilk and beaten egg. Stir just until a shaggy dough comes together. Do not overmix; a few lumps are fine.
Drop and space. Using a heaping tablespoon or a medium cookie scoop, drop rounds of dough onto the prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart. You should get about 12 biscuits.
Bake. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool slightly. Let biscuits rest on the pan for 5 minutes before serving warm. To use for dressing, allow to cool completely, then crumble and dry overnight on the counter or in a low oven.

Nutrition (per serving)

Cornmeal Drop Biscuits — The Crumb That Holds the Table Together