Mini Sour Cream Biscuits

Mid-June. The strawberries came in. A pint a day for two weeks. Strawberry shortcake Saturday. The same biscuits, the same cream, the same berries. The repetition is the texture and the meaning is in the repetition.

Tuesday I drove to Tahlequah for a meeting at the cultural center. Linda Walkingstick wanted to talk about a new project — a series of public talks and demonstrations on Cherokee tools and food, to be held at the cultural center over the fall and winter. She wants me to do one in November. The talk would be about my fabrication of the memory project pieces and about how they connect to traditional foodways. I said yes. I am not a public speaker but the cultural center has been good to me and I will do what they ask.

Hannah is being recognized at a regional food sovereignty conference in Tulsa next month. They're giving her a recognition award for Elohi Foods' work over fifteen years. She said: I don't want to go. She said: I don't do awards. I said: you're going. She said: it's a fancy thing. I said: it's a recognition of fifteen years of work that has changed lives. She said: it's embarrassing. I said: I'm going with you. She said: you have a suit. I said: I have a suit. She said: alright. We'll go.

Wednesday I picked up the suit from the cleaners. The suit is older than Cole. I have been wearing the same suit to occasions for over twenty years. Hannah has not let me buy a new one. She says: the suit is fine. The suit is fine. I tried it on. It fit. The pants needed a quarter inch off the cuff because I had worn them less the last few years and the fabric had relaxed. Hannah took them in. She is a tailor when needed.

The shortcake Saturday I wrote about above runs on these biscuits — small, tender, slightly tangy from the sour cream, and consistent enough that changing them would feel like a mistake. Hannah would notice. I would notice. The repetition is what makes them mean something, and this is the recipe that holds the whole thing together.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 12 min | Total Time: 27 min | Servings: 24 mini biscuits

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
3/4 cup full-fat sour cream
2 tablespoons whole milk (plus more if needed)

Instructions

Preheat. Heat oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Mix dry ingredients. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a large bowl until evenly combined.
Cut in butter. Add the cold butter cubes to the flour mixture. Using your fingertips or a pastry cutter, work the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some pea-sized pieces remaining. Work quickly to keep the butter cold.
Add sour cream. Stir in the sour cream and milk until the dough just comes together. Do not overmix — the dough will be shaggy and slightly sticky. Add an extra teaspoon of milk only if the dough seems too dry to hold together.
Shape and cut. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently pat to about 3/4-inch thickness. Fold once and pat again. Cut with a 1 1/2-inch round biscuit cutter, pressing straight down without twisting. Re-roll scraps once to cut remaining biscuits.
Bake. Place biscuits close together on the prepared baking sheet — nearly touching helps them rise tall. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until the tops are lightly golden and the edges are set.
Cool slightly and serve. Let rest 5 minutes before splitting. Serve warm with sliced fresh strawberries and softly whipped cream.

Nutrition (per serving)

Mini Sour Cream Biscuits — The Same Biscuits, Every June