Biscuits. I cannot hear the word without my heart skipping a beat and my salivary glands kicking into overdrive. How can one single edible unite all my greatest loves (butter! flour! more butter!) in such flaky, fluffy harmony? And in so doing create a perfect vehicle for that other food-of-my-heart, jam? Biscuits remind us that sometimes it is not for us to ask questions lest we fly too close to the sun.
Because biscuits never orbit far from my circle of attention, they popped immediately to mind when Julia at Lemon Stripes suggested that she and I pay homage to our two blogs with a lemon + sage recipe collaboration. Julia is offering up a sweet rendition of the flavor combo with a lemon scone recipe, and I took a savory route with these Meyer lemon and sage biscuits. They're light, fluffy, and brilliant with soup or white bean chili—and their hint of herbal earthiness doesn't detract in the least from their ability to shuttle jam to your face.
Biscuits achieve their best consistency when cold dough hits a hot oven; the butter melts rapidly and releases pockets of steam that form the tender, airy texture we know and love. I freeze my butter and use a cheese grater to cut it into the flour, then handle the dough as little as possible. Remember, once the liquid touches your dry ingredients it's mission critical that you get those babies in the fire. Their finicky ways are worth the effort, however, 'cause nothin' says lovin' like a hot biscuit from the oven!
Meyer Lemon + Sage Biscuits
1 cup milk
2 meyer lemons
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons rubbed sage
4 tablespoons butter, frozen
Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Remove zest from lemons and set aside. In a small bowl combine milk and lemon juice and wait 5 minutes or until milk curdles. In a larger bowl, sift flour, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest. Grate butter into dry ingredients and blend with a fork or pastry cutter until mixture achieves a pebbly consistency. Working quickly, add milk and stir only until a dough forms. Press dough to 1 inch thick on a flat surface. Cut into rounds with the rim of a glass then bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 8 minutes or until browned. Enjoy warm with a generous smear of blackberry jam!
P.S. Be sure to check out Julia's lemon scones, and the rest of her blog too. It's smashing!
Definitely yum-liscious!
These look very tasty, but I think you’ve accidentally skipped the sage in the ingredients… would love to know how much you use!