Drop Biscuits

Drop Biscuits
Craig Lee for The New York Times
Total Time
30 minutes
Rating
5(2,587)
Comments
Read comments

Drop biscuits are heavenly, and considering how little work they are to put together, they're also a real kitchen miracle. A few pantry staples and a hot oven are all you need for crunchy golden biscuits with soft interiors. They are excellent on their own, but a bit of butter and jam doesn't hurt either. Once you’ve nailed the basic version, try stirring in some cracked black pepper and Parmigiano-Reggiano, finely chopped tender herbs or chocolate chips.

  • or to save this recipe.

  • Subscriber benefit: give recipes to anyone
    As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.
    Subscribe
  • Print Options


Advertisement


Ingredients

Yield:8 biscuits
  • 2cups/255 grams all-purpose flour
  • 1tablespoon baking powder
  • 1teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1teaspoon granulated sugar
  • 10tablespoons/141 grams cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
  • ¾cup whole milk, plus 1 to 2 tablespoons, if needed
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)

261 calories; 15 grams fat; 9 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 4 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 27 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 2 grams sugars; 4 grams protein; 180 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Powered by
Cooking Newsletter illustration

Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.

Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it is the texture of coarse meal with some pea-size pieces.

  2. Step 2

    Using a fork, stir in the milk until just evenly moistened, adding up to 2 more tablespoons, if necessary, but stopping before the dough gets too wet. Scoop the dough into 8 rough mounds (about ⅓-cup each) and place them on the prepared sheets. Bake the biscuits until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 20 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Ratings

5 out of 5
2,587 user ratings
Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Comments

Out of necessity I had to modify this recipe just slightly. I used 8 tbsp regular butter and 2 tbsp ghee. 1/2 c whole milk and 1/4 c yogurt. Also, I let them cook a couple minutes longer by accident. But they turned out just divine. Hot tip: grate your cold butter instead of cubing it, and it will incorporate into the flour faster.

I'm surprised at all the positive ratings for these. I make biscuits often and decided to try out this recipe. 10 tbls of butter was way too much. I questioned the amount while adding the ingredients, but went along with it anyway. Biscuits were extremely greasy. 8 tbls would probably have been sufficient. As a side note, you can use a food processor to combine the cold butter and dry ingredients. Much easier than cutting in the butter by hand.

I've made these more times than I can count, and the only instance they didn't turn out was when I reduced the amount of butter. I store most of my butter in the freezer, and love grating it directly into pastry or biscuit dough - much faster than a pastry cutter or the food processor, and quicker, too. These come together in under 5 minutes, so I wait until the oven is fully heated, quickly mix them up, and pop them into the oven.

Agreed that 8tbs of butter was good. These make 8 perfect sized flaky biscuits. As someone who never bakes this recipe was easy to follow. I liked that someone gave a tip to freeze a stick of butter and then grate it into the mixture. I also added crumbles of Traders Joe’s unexpected cheddar cheese!

The best base for any flavor biscuit so good and easy

I made these gluten free. I used King Arthur all purpose gluten free flour blend and measured by weight. I wound up baking them for about 30 minutes to get a nice color on them. They were great! Not gummy like GF baked goods can be. The butter was pooling out of them bout 1/2 way thru baking, which had me worried, but somehow it all reabsorbed by the end and were not at all greasy. They had a really nice taste and texture.

Private comments are only visible to you.

Advertisement

or to save this recipe.