Makes 12 Biscuits (allow 30 minutes to make and bake)
Ingredients:
2 cups (10 ounces all-purpose flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
1 cup cold buttermilk
8 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled for about 5 minutes
2 tablespoons melted butter for brushing on biscuits
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 475º.
Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in large bowl.
Combine buttermilk and 8 tablespoons melted butter in medium bowl, stirring until butter forms small to medium clumps (looks awful & tastes great!).
Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir with rubber spatula until just incorporated and batter pulls away from sides of bowl.
Using ¼-cup dry measure, scoop level amount of batter and drop onto parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet or Teflon baking sheet (biscuits should measure about 2¼ inches in diameter and 1¼ inches high, but it doesn’t matter much if they don’t). Repeat with remaining batter, spacing biscuits about 1½ inches apart.
Bake until tops are golden brown and crisp, 12-14 minutes.
Brush biscuit tops with remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter. Transfer to wire rack and let cool 5 minutes before serving.
For rosemary and Parmesan drop biscuits simply add 1½ ounces of grated Parmesan cheese and ½ teaspoon finely minced fresh rosemary leaves to the flour mixture in step 2.
For cheddar and scallion drop biscuits, add ½ cup (2 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese and ¼ cup thinly sliced scallions to flour mixture in step 2.
For black pepper and bacon drop biscuits: cut 6 strips bacon in half lengthwise and then crosswise into ¼-inch pieces; fry in 10-inch non-stick skillet over medium heat until crisp, 5-7 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towel-lined plate and cool to room temperature. Add bacon and 1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper to flour mixture in step 2.
Recipe from November-December 2007 Cook’s Illustrated