Biscuits with Flavored Butter

My fabulous friend Tara recently invited me to a Women's Supper Club gathering where the theme for the evening was Southern food. We feasted on cheesy grits, succotash, bacon mac & cheese, pickled okra, “chicken” (tofu) on savory waffles, and we finished with a strawberry icebox pie. My contribution to the meal was homemade biscuits with three flavored butters: Peach and Rosemary; Mustard and Thyme; and Cinnamon Honey Butter.

I honestly don't know why people buy biscuits that come in those pop open cans. Homemade biscuits are so cheap and easy to make, not to mention how much better they taste. Give them a try and tell me in the comments what you think – I'd love to hear from you.

All of the pictures for this post were taken by my amazing friend Megan and you can check out her website: http://www.nhstphotography.com/

and blog: http://www.prairieandco.com/

Biscuit Ingredients:

3 cups flour

1 tablespoon, plus 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

¾ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

6 tablespoons butter, room temperature, cut into approximately 16 pieces

2/3 cup heavy cream

2/3 cup half & half, plus a little more to brush on tops of biscuits before baking

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Using your fingers, rub the pieces of butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles a very coarse cornmeal. Add the cream and half & half, stirring just until the dough starts to come together. Turn the dough out onto a piece of parchment paper and knead for about 30 seconds. You can roll the dough out to a 1-inch thickness with a rolling pin but personally I just use my hands to press it out to the right thickness and spare myself one more kitchen utensil to clean. Use a 2-inch round cookie/biscuit cutter to cut out biscuits and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Continue to re-form the scraps and cut out biscuits until you run out of dough. Brush the tops with a little half & half and bake for 20 minutes.

Yields 10 biscuits.

Peach and Rosemary Butter Ingredients:

½ cup butter, softened

2 tablespoons peach preserves (or any other flavor of preserves that you like)

½ teaspoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped

Mustard and Thyme Butter Ingredients:

½ cup butter, softened

4 teaspoons mustard (Dijon, spicy brown, etc.)

1 tablespoon fresh thyme

Cinnamon Honey Butter Ingredients:

½ cup butter, softened

1 tablespoon honey

¼ teaspoon cinnamon (to taste)

For all of the above butter recipes, simply beat the ingredients together by hand, or with an electric mixer, or in a stand mixer until all ingredients have been evenly distributed. Pack the flavored butter into any small container or butter mold and refrigerate until ready to use.

Source for Flavored Butter Recipes:  http://www.southernliving.com/food/entertaining/flavored-butter-recipes