Angel Biscuits

   When I first began this blog, I did it with the simple intention of sharing recipes with my friends, family, and hopefully new readers.  I love to cook and I love to bake.  Until now, I didn't realize that I must also love to tell stories.  Sometimes I go back and reread my posts and I think, "Wow.  I talk a lot!"  I feel absolutely certain that this comes as no surprise to my family, my friends, or to my third-grade teacher.  I am not sure, however, that I can change this at 38 years of age.  I am pretty sure it's just a part of who I am.

    I think what I missed up to this point is that I treasure the stories as much as the recipes and that for years I have been cataloging them in my mind.  This Thanksgiving I am grateful that I have found a means to share them and for those of you who regularly read my blog (most times without me even knowing you do!) and for those of you who keep encouraging me, I give thanks.  Thank you for sharing this space with me.  As silly as this may sound, I have begun to imagine you here in my kitchen with me and I love this feeling.  I invited you in with my first post, you accepted that invitation, and you have brought your friends!

   As for my recipe for Angel Biscuits, I have to admit that this is another one that I am allowing myself a few tears as I type.  Like my recipe for Patsy's Cheeseball, these biscuits bring beautiful memories flooding back to me and I find myself wishing desperately to be rolling them out in my grandmother's kitchen or in that old Rogers' family farm house in the woods of Virginia.  If only I had known how empty I would feel when  my grandparents, my Aunt Argie, and all of my great uncles were gone, I would have stopped to drink in every moment of my time with them.

   No holiday table was ever complete without Angel Biscuits.  They are perfect for so many reasons and not the least of them being that like so many of my favorite recipes, they can be made ahead, frozen, and baked right out of the freezer.  In fact, the picture above that my husband took came from this past weekend when my two little girls and I worked together to mix and roll them out.  I am so thankful for this photograph!  I am also thankful for my eight year-old's willingness to sift the 5 cups of flour for the recipe!

   My dear friend Sundi, who is one of the best storytellers I have ever met, shared a story with me years ago about the importance of good rolls with a holiday meal.  Her mother and her two aunts were together and discussing women from history.  Aunt Mimi posed the question as to what woman the other two thought had made the biggest contribution to society.  I have no idea who Sundi's mom and Aunt Nancy said, but Mimi was quick to share that she felt the honor should go to Sister Schubert for making holiday meals easier!

   I still laugh at this story mainly because I feel like Sister Schubert RUINED our holiday meals for a couple of years!  As my grandmother's health began to decline and she was no longer able to make quite as many dishes as she had been before, she and my Aunt Donna were thrilled to discover Sister Schubert's frozen rolls.  I, however, was devastated.  Despite all the other time-honored favorite dishes, the meal still seemed lacking.  It was at this point that I decided I had to learn to make them myself.  My grandmother helped me through my first couple of batches and I was reminded time and time again of my favorite Nikki Giovanni poem entitled "Legacies" which can be found at PoetryFoundation.org.  I somehow knew that by learning how to make these that it meant we were all entering a different stage of life and  that one day my grandmother would no longer be there to help me with these.  I only hoped that I would be able to make them well enough to carry on the tradition.  I think that I have and now I want to honor her even more by sharing the recipe and steps with you in the hopes that you, too, might replace your Sister Schubert rolls with my family's Angel Biscuits recipe!

Angel Biscuits

5 cups of all-purpose flour (only and always White Lily if you can get it!)
3 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
5 T. sugar (you can back this down to 3 if you would like to)

2 cups of buttermilk (only and always Cruze Dairy if you are near Knoxville, TN)
1 cup Crisco
1 1/2 packages of instant yeast (NOT rapid rise!) dissolved in 2 T. lukewarm water (not too hot)

Melted butter for brushing the middle of the biscuits

Begin by preparing the yeast mixture in a small bowl and allowing it to sit while you prepare work with the other ingredients.  Be sure not to get your water too hot.  I usually test it on my wrist and go with the temperature that would be right for a baby's bath.

Sift the dry ingredients together into a very large bowl.

Add buttermilk, Crisco, and yeast mixture.

Mix very, very gently with your hands.  You do NOT want to be aggressive with this dough or the biscuits will be tough.

Once the mixture comes together (it will be very sticky and wet), turn the entire bowl on to a counter that has been well-floured.  Pat the dough together, add a little more flour to the top of the dough, and turn the dough over.  You might need to do this a couple of times depending on how sticky your dough is.  You only want to be able to lift them up from the counter easily and still want the biscuits to be light so don't add too much flour.

Using a rolling pin that has been well-floured, roll the biscuits to about 1/4" to 1/2" thick and cut out with a floured biscuit cutter.  Brush melted butter on the top of the biscuits and fold over to make them into the shape of angel wings.

At this point you can place them on a greased baking sheet (or use Reynold's Release Foil) not touching one another and freeze the entire sheet of biscuits until they are frozen solid.  You can then just pop them into a freezer bag and keep them there until they are ready to be baked.

To bake, place the biscuits (freshly made or straight out of the freezer) close together and bake for about 12 -15 minutes at 450 degrees.  Be very, very diligent about keeping an eye on them because you don't want them to get too dark.