Homemade Biscuits (And sausage gravy!)

I love weekends, because they mean sleeping in with my hubs (and occasionally the pup—we don’t always let him sleep on the bed because he somehow manages to occupy 90% of the bed with his 18-lb body), and making a REAL breakfast… not cereal or quick toast & bacon.

Friday night, just before bed, we managed to watch an episode of Diners, Drive-ins, & Dives that featured Ruth’s Diner in Salt Lake City, featuring a biscuit & gravy recipe with Ruth’s Mile High Biscuits as the centerpiece…

…so of course, when we woke up Saturday morning, all I could think about was biscuits & gravy.

I reached for my handy-dandy American Legion Auxillary cookbook, because if there’s anyone who knows how to make good biscuits, it’s the lil’ old ladies of the Midwest.  These were referred to as “Cloud Biscuits” in the cookbook.

So while I whipped up some clouds, the Hubs whipped up a sausage gravy.  Yes, you heard that right, this is the first entry where both myself AND The Hubs will be contributing to the post!  I’m pretty well crap with gravies (unless it comes from a packet or can) so I leave that to his mastery.

RECIPE FOR BISCUITS: (makes 1 dozen regular sized biscuits [or 16 small ones])

1 cup sifted flour

1/2 tbsp sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup shortening (we used light margarine)

1 egg white

1/3 cup milk

 

DIRECTIONS:

Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl, then cut in the shortening until crumbly.  Add the egg & milk and then stir until the dough leaves the side of the bowl.

Turn onto a floured surface, and  knead gently, about 20 strokes.  Then roll or pat out to about 3/4 inch thick.

Cut with a biscuit cutter (note: I misplaced my big round cutter, so I had to use a little 1.5-inch diameter round, though I could have used a glass turned upside down) & place on a lightly sprayed cookie sheet.

Bake at 450F for 10-14 minutes or until lightly browned.

Seriously… how stinkin’ kewt are these?

And while these are quite a lovely lil’ bite with some strawberry jalapeno jam…

They’re even more delicious with fresh sausage gravy.

 

GRANDMA DAKE’S SAUSAGE GRAVY RECIPE (transcribed by me on behalf of The Hubs):

1/2 lb pork sausage

salt & pepper

1/4 – 1/2 cup flour (depending on how thick you like it)

2 cups milk + more to desired thickness

 

DIRECTIONS:

Cook the sausage in a large pan with some salt & pepper to taste. 

Once browned, you remove the meat from the pan, and then discard about 2/3 of the grease. 

Then add the flour & stir.  You want enough flour so that it’s still runny in the pan—if it gets clumpy, add more grease to thin it out.  Mix for 1-2 minutes over medium heat until it becomes a dark brown (but not burnt).  But don’t overdo it-- Remember that the roux you’re creating will absorb the milk, so the more roux you make, the more milk you’re going to have to add to turn it into a good gravy.  So if you’re not wanting to eat gravy on everything for the next week, err on the side of less.

Then add milk and continue stirring, about 2-3 minutes.  Make sure to scrape the edges of the pan to keep everything well combined.  At this point, you can add more milk if you need to thin things out a bit, and you can season with more salt & pepper to taste.  Remove from heat when you’ve reached the desired consistency, otherwise it will continue to thicken.

Spoon onto your biscuits, and chow down.

In my case, enjoy with your favorite coffee (in your favorite coffee mug):

 

NutriFacts: (for two biscuits & 1/2 cup gravy)

Calories 318.4

  Total Fat 16.3 g

  Saturated Fat 4.4 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 1.6 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 5.5 g

  Cholesterol 43.9 mg

  Sodium 654.0 mg

  Potassium 287.0 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 30.9 g

  Dietary Fiber 0.8 g

  Sugars 5.8 g

  Protein 12.5 g