Biscuits were a big deal in my house. I'm sure everyone growing up in the South, would say the same. I grew up with my granny and she would make the best biscuits. She never measured anything and she never used a cutter, but they always came out perfect! Sometimes, if we were lucky, she would make them during the week, but they were always a definite on Sundays. Usually, our Sunday breakfast was eaten at the dining room table. It almost always consisted of biscuits, gravy, sausage, bacon, or ham, tomato slices, cantaloupe (if in season), eggs, and some sort of syrup - either sorghum or Golden Eagle (look it up). For years, I never made the biscuits with her but I always watched. Not long before she died and a couple of years into me being vegan, she stood in my kitchen and showed me how to make her delicious biscuits. Only this time, she made them vegan and she let me help. I will never forget that day. I share this simple recipe with you, that my granny brought from Alabama many years ago, in hopes that you pass along this vegan version to someone in your family and you let them help you, so that they may pass it on as well.
These biscuits are fluffy clouds of deliciousness. You can have them with just butter, syrup, or white gravy.
Recipe: (I usually do not measure my ingredients. I believe some things are made with love and feeling, so I will do my best to give you an idea of what the measurements may be. But, just how I learned, practice makes perfect)! Also, use your hands
Servings: I try to get 8 biscuits out of this, but depending on the size you make, you may get 10.
2-3 cups self-rising flour (this is important because if you accidentally use AP flour, the biscuits won't rise)
1/2-3/4 cups shortening (I use Crisco )
3/4 - 1 cup unsweetened non flavored plant based milk (I believe unsweetened soy is best for making biscuits)
Instructions:
Preheat your over to 420 degrees. Grease a medium or large sized cast iron skillet with shortening or butter. I prefer butter to give the biscuits a really good flavor. Cast iron really is the better way to go with these biscuits.
In a medium sized bowl, add the self-rising flour and make a well in the middle with your fingers. Add the shortening. Start with about 1/2 cup because it's better to add a little at a time since you can't take away. Start mixing the flour and shortening between your fingers. You want to make sure the shortening is mixed throughout the flour. You're looking for a beady type texture.
Then, make another well in the flour/shortening mixture. Same as with the shortening, add a little of the milk at first and then add more as needed. I usually just pour it into the well and work the flour into the milk from the outside of the bowl in, turning the bowl as I work. Make sure the milk is incorporated into the flour mixture. This will be a wet dough. Do not overwork it as the biscuits will be tough. The dough will stick to your hands like you're never getting it off.
You can take a little flour and rub between your hands to keep the dough from sticking to you. Basically from here, you take a little dough, depending on size you want, and roll around in your hand to form a round shape.
Put biscuits into the skillet. It doesn't matter if they're touching a little. This is the point where my granny would put a little bacon or sausage grease on top, but since I will not be doing that anytime, ever, you can choose to put a little dab of butter on top of each biscuit if you want them to have that buttery flavor. I usually do not, since I know I'm going to add butter inside later.
Once all the biscuits are done, put into the oven for about 20 minutes or until brown on top. It's best to watch them since all oven times vary. That's it! Slather some gravy, butter or jelly on those suckers and eat 'em like your life depends on it. If you have sorghum syrup, even better.
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