Cream Biscuits
This cream biscuit recipe uses cream instead of butter and you simply stir it into the dry ingredients, pat it out and cut out the biscuits.
I’ve already confided to all of you that pie crusts and cream puffs, among other things, have caused me much stress and anxiety over the years.
It has been a long and painful process trying to get up the guts to try them and perfect them. In that vein, I might as well add biscuits to the mix of stress-inducing recipes.
I have made biscuits at least 256 times in the last seven years. 255.5 times they have been a pure and utter failure. Flat, tough, salty, unflaky, soggy, you name it. (The other .5 refers to the one time my kids still ate them, despite my aversion, and I think they only gagged them down then because we were having beans for dinner.)
It has been hard on my poor, little self confidence. So I gave them up.
I was tired of getting my hopes up and having them crash down with another flat, dull biscuit.
Plus, it didn’t help when my kids, trying to help, would say to me, “Mom, sorry the biscuits were yucky again tonight.” No more biscuit making for me.
Until this recipe. You can already tell from the picture that these biscuits were at least 84 times higher than my other attempts. And oh, the tender flakiness. Dreamy. Absolutely dreamy.
I’ve never had a more perfect biscuit come from the depths of my oven and I will tell you this much: I am forever loyal to this biscuit. It has dragged me from the depths of my biscuit making hell and transformed me into a believer…that homemade biscuits really can be edible.
More than edible, these delicious biscuits rely on a cream based recipe, which helped me in the stress-level department.
Instead of having to worry about whether my butter pieces were cold enough, small enough, cut in enough, or stressing about whether I was overworking the dough or folding it the wrong way, this recipe utilizes cream in the place of butter and you simply stir it in to the dry ingredients, pat it out into a square and cut out the biscuits. Simple.
The other perk? These can be flash frozen and baked at your convenience.
I hope you’ll become a believer, too (unless you are already a professional biscuit maker…if so, I’m not sure we can be friends because I like to surround myself with people who fail at the same things I do – it’s a bit easier on the ego).
Oh, and a final note: if you are gasping and apoplectic at the amount of cream that has been used in the recipes this week, please know that I promise some healthful meals next week.
But until then, please, please, please do not check back tomorrow. It will put the meatloaf, creamy potatoes and these celestial biscuits to shame.
Two Years Ago: Pasta Chicken Salad with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Spinach and Bacon
Cream Biscuits
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons (43 g) melted butter
- 2 cups (284 g) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the surface
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar, optional
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Sift two cups flour, the baking powder, salt and (if using) sugar into a large bowl. Fold in 1 1/4 cups cream. If the dough is not soft or easily handled, fold in the remaining 1/4 cup cream, little by little.
- Turn the dough onto a floured surface, mound it into a ball and, using your hands, gently press it to a thickness of about 3/4 inch. It does not need to be completely smooth across the top. Cut into rounds, 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Gather dough scraps and continue to make rounds.
- Place the biscuits on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat liner. Brush the tops with the butter. Bake until golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Serve immediately, or flash freeze (see note), for future use.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: from Smitten Kitchen/Originally from James Beard’s American Cookery
Fast and fabulous. You made my very first attempt at biscuits perfection. Thanks for taking one for the team…again.
Do you know why the biscuits would remain raw (on the inside) when cooking from frozen? This is my second time attempting to freeze and bake the biscuits, following your directions and baking for a few more minutes, and even baking much longer than you suggested. Any idea what’s going wrong?
Hi Alex, you might try decreasing the temp by 25 degrees and adding even more time. If they are raw in the center, it sounds like baking time is the culprit.
This has to be the best kept secret of your website! These little gems are easy peasy to make and absolutely divine. If a soft, fluffy roll and a traditional biscuit had a baby, it would be cream biscuits. Thank you Mel!
Hi Mel! My kids having been enjoying these for years now!! Thank you so much for sharing. By any chance do you have a white gravy recipe to pair it with? I always end up trying different recipes but would love one from you!
I don’t really have a white biscuit gravy…yet! Two kids have requested biscuits and gravy for their birthday coming up so hopefully I’ll get one just right!
Mel, I have lived in the south for most of my adult life and have tried so many biscuit recipes. Some were gross, some were fine, some were pretty good. But THESE…well I’m done searching. So soft and tender and just the perfect accompaniment to soup or gravy or any weeknight meal. My family and I thank you for another winner!
Yay, thanks, Ellen!
I made these long ago when you first posted about them (loved them then), and decided to serve them along with your sweet and spicy pork tenderloin last night and some green beans. It had been a long time since we’d had them. So glad we pulled the recipe out. They come together so quickly, and are perfectly light and fluffy. I was even able to sub in 1/2 cup skim milk for the cream, as I only had 1 cup heavy cream. Need to remember to whip these up once in a while. Delicious.
I just need to tell you how much we love these biscuits! they are SO easy to make and my family LOVES them. Not to mention they’re absolutely delicious. I’ve been making them for years. Thanks for making me look like a rock star in the kitchen
I finally learn to make the most deliciosos!! biscuits, with your recipe, i was afraid
and there is too many recipes, but again, if i need to make someting a just come to
your blog, yo have always the best and easy to make recipes..thanks.
Note.- i been made this recipe almost every day for a week, my sisters come and
i made biscuits with peaches and whipped cream..so good
my boys liked just with stawberry jelly..
Divine!!!!! THE biscuit recipe at last!! Permanently replaced my standby recipe that always worked but didn’t have the fluffiness this does. My 5-yr old son said they were better than Cracker Barrel’s, LOL. Fortunately I don’t always have heavy cream in the fridge or I would be making these entirely too often!
yummo! these are perfect! they roll and cut out so easily and bake up perfect!! Now my family can get their, “bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit” fix in Grenada! 😀
I made these tonight and they were delicious! Best biscuit I’ve ever had 🙂 The family thought so as well.
Just stumbled across your site and although I haven’t tried anything yet must say everything looks soo gooood and not super complicated..having two year old twins is not conducive to spending a long time in the kitchen.. I am a pretty good cook but sometimes run out of ideas..my husband never has any suggestions for dinner now I have plenty of things to try.thanks!
Oh my goodness, these were delicious and SO easy! I have made them the past two nights to go with your beef stroganoff that we’ve had for the past two nights, my husband was impressed that they were home made. Thank you!!!
Thanks, Nikki!
I have tried several biscuit recipes, but this is the only one that didn’t produce hard flat discs! They were perfect, and so easy too!! Thank you!!
Whitney – I’m so happy this recipe worked out as well for you as it did for me – made me into a biscuit-maker-lover!
Like you I was a non-baker of biscuits. I have a child who LOVES biscuits but is o a restricted diet which makes purchasing biscuits nearly impossible. I cam across this recipe while checking out your blog and I must say, these biscuits are fantastic! The fact that I can freeze them, even better. My baby can have her biscuits again! Thank you so much!!
Julie Reed – I’m thrilled you loved these! Thanks for letting me know.
Haha… I’m looking at the comments now and realizing that the melted butter doesn’t actually go into the biscuits. I was confused by the directions too but I just put the melted butter in my biscuits and then added more on top when they were done. Oh, well… extra butter never hurt anything except my thighs. I did bake them on parchement paper and they didn’t stick so in the future I’ll save all the butter for the tops.
Amy M – well, I think we must be soulmates because my favorite ingredient is heavy cream, too. I’m glad you liked these biscuits – thanks for the lengthy review. I loved it. And sorry about the confusion on the melted butter – guess it doesn’t hurt to add extra butter!
I loved these biscuits! In general, biscuits are easy to make but these are even easier since the butter is melted and you don’t have to mess with cutting it in. The tenderness that the heavy cream gives these made my toes curl and my eyes roll back in my head. BTW, I think heavy cream is my favorite ingredient. Anyway, I made these for dinner but I had a few unplanned guests pop over and took the entire tray down before dinner… these guests also helped themselves to the jar of raspberry jelly in the fridge. I can’t say I blame them 🙂 I will definately be freezing these in the very near future in preparation for the other bun I’ve got baking in the oven 🙂
I just made the biscuits and they were wonderful. Of course I made more sausage gravy than biscuits and wanted to make another batch. I was confused about the flash freeze method though. You said serve immediately or flash freeze but then under the flash freeze directions you said to bake a little longer. So do I bake and then freeze and bake again or do I cut them out and then freeze and then bake? Thanks so much. I love your recipes!
Becky – sorry for the confusion on the flash freeze directions. To flash freeze, the unbaked biscuits should be placed on a baking sheet and frozen. When you are ready to bake them, add a few minutes to the baking time (baking them from a frozen state instead of thawing first). Does that help?
Made these biscuits this morning and they were really good. Hubby liked them a lot. I’m from the South, so finding ones like I had growing up are hard to find, but this one comes as close as I could find. Good job! Mine actually rose and weren’t hockey pucks–yay for me!
Chavah – glad these biscuits lived up to your southern expectations! And I agree it is so nice to have biscuits that are actually edible and not dense and heavy.
thank you!! i thought that might be the case but wasn’t sure if the butter actually went into the dough…. THANK YOU!! they were so good!!
Steph – I need to edit the recipe. Sorry it isn’t more clear. The original recipe had you brush butter on your baking pan and use the “remaining” butter to brush on top of the biscuits. I use a silpat liner or parchment paper so I didn’t brush any on the baking sheet. So the answer to your question is, yes, all the butter can be brushed on top of the biscuits.
I made these yesterday and they were really good! I have one question: Where does the butter come in? The recipes says “Brush the tops with the REMAINING butter”… What do I do with the ‘first’ butter? Or does it all just get brushed on? THANK YOU!!
Jill – Thanks for letting me know these worked out so well. I agree they are phenomenal!
Made these today. And I couldn’t stop eating them. Seriously the best biscuit I’ve ever had. Thanks for sharing!!!
This is my first time commenting but I have been reading your blog for over a year and I love it! These biscuits were absolutely amazing! I used them as the cake for strawberry shortcakes, and they were delicious. Keep the new recipes coming…you have some great ones on here!
Sonya – oh, I'm sorry these didn't turn out but I can see why – the cream in this recipe acts as the "fat" that most biscuit recipes call for (usually butter or shortening). Buttermilk has a lot of acidity and not enough fat to cut the bill. I hope they work out when you try them with cream!Hannah – thanks for commenting! I'm so glad that you've enjoyed the blog for a while and I love that you used these biscuits for strawberry shortcake. You've convinced me to try it!
I tried these this morning, had to make some changes since I was out of cream and the changed did NOT pan out. I used buttermilk instead of cream….I know it's not the same, but figured I would try anyway. They came out looking like white hockey pucks. Could have broke some teeth too 🙂 So I don't recommend using buttermilk in place of cream. I'll try again when I have some cream.
My sides are aching from laughing so much at this post. Oh my stars, my eyes are watering. I hear you about the biscuits. I was just thinking about cream biscuits and here I see this divine recipe for them. Bookmarked! of course I'm seeing all kinds of wonderful possibilities for them. Wish I had some doggone or I'd be making them this morning. The list of foods that confound are too many to list. Forget puff pastry, I KNOW that's not going to work. So there goes the strudels of my dreams….
So excited to try these. I to am a biscuit failure,lol!
Thank you for finding these!
Whitney R.
i need to first state that apoplectic is an awesome word. secondly, these would be incredible as the base for some strawberry shortcake. oh, summer, where are you? 🙂
Beautiful, I love an easy foolproof recipe. Biscuits are near and dear to my heart (and other body parts)
Hi Patricia,
Just wanted you to know I gave you an award today. I am fairly new to blog land so I hope this is not too hokey. I love your food!
Mickey
How funny, I have been looking for a good Biscuits for the past week or so. How funny that I look on your site today and sure enough here is one!! Thanks
Must everything good contain heavy whipping cream?
I never have even attempted to make biscuits unless you call popping open a philsbury can making biscuits. My Granny is always around to make the rolls, therefore I don’t have to give it a try.
My utter failure is phyllo/filo dough. That stuff is the pits.
These look delicious. I too, am a biscuit Failure. The only ones I have been able to get that are tasty and wonderful are drop biscuits. Since you have the same track record as me, I am excited to try this recipe.
PS I can’t wait for tomorrow. I am in the mood for rich, luxurious foods right now (the more cream and butter the better)…my thighs, on the other hand, are not in the mood but I’m not on speaking terms with them right now!