Biscuits & Sausage Gravy

There is a chill in the air and fall is definitely upon us.  Yesterday was a dreary and rainy evening.  During the evening hours, I was cozy watching the World Series on TV and text messaging with a friend about the events of the game and hoping our beloved Royals would rally.  Sadly, they did not, but the Series isn't over yet!  During our text conversation,  she asked me if I had added anything to the blog lately.  Well, I had to confess, that things have been busy and I have just not been feeling very creative in the kitchen and no, I haven't had an entry in several months.  

The guilt set in.  

I have been craving biscuits and sausage gravy for the last few days, so I decided it was time to take care of that craving, and I would leverage the basic recipes for photos and a new blog entry.  I've historically not been a baking powder biscuit fan, because I've never seemed to master them.  They often were more like hockey pucks rather than the light, fluffy creations I expected them to be.  For these reasons, I generally take the easy way out and get a tube of biscuits from the grocery.  

Well, I won't be doing that any more!  This is my new go to recipe for light fluffy and flaky buttermilk biscuits that I can easily mix up with ingredients I have on hand.  These biscuits are not my recipe, credit belongs to Cooking Light.  I'm excited to find an easy recipe that fits my biscuit expectations and am excited to share the recipe with you.  

So without further ado, here's the biscuit recipe that can be quickly pulled together for a tasty breakfast.  They would be fantastic simply slathered with butter or with some jelly or a drizzle of honey.     

But for the royal treatment, whip up a skillet full of gravy to make you feel warm and cozy!

Biscuits & Sausage Gravy

Biscuit Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 Tablespoons cold butter, cut into small cubes

3/4 cups cold buttermilk

3 Tablespoons honey

Biscuit Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.

My grandma's crockery I use regularly in my kitchen, keeps her memory alive.

Add the cold butter cubes and cut them into the flour mixture using a pastry blender.  The mixture should resemble coarse meal.  

A vintage red handled pastry blender makes short work of the job!

Measure out the buttermilk into a liquid measuring cup, add the honey and mix well to blend.  (Note:If you don't have buttermilk, use regular milk and measure short of the 3/4 cup mark and add two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to measure to the full 3/4 mark.  It will curdle the milk and you won't need a trip to the store.  Add the liquid mixture to the bowl of dry ingredients.  Stir gently until dry ingredients are moistened.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board and knead gently 3-4 times to bring the dough together.  Roll the dough into a 9x5 rectangle about 1/2 inch thick.  fold the dough into thirds like a letter.  Rotate the dough a quarter of a turn.  Roll the dough again into a 9x5 rectangle and 1/2 inch thick and fold again.  Repeat the turning and rolling a third time but this time to a 3/4 thickness.  Using a biscuit cutter cut the dough into rounds with a straight up and down motion, DO NOT twist the cutter.

Place the cut biscuits to the parchment on the prepared baking sheet, leaving about an inch of space between them.   Gather up the scraps, and cut more biscuits, using as much of the dough as possible.

Bake the biscuits for 11-12 minutes or until the biscuits have risen and are golden brown on top.  Transfer the biscuits to a wire rack to cool briefly and serve warm.  If you are waiting to serve them you can quickly reheat them 10-15 seconds in the microwave.

Drool Worthy Biscuits

Look at the height and flakiness on these monsters!  I want to eat them all right now!
If you use a  3" cutter and got 6 large biscuits from this recipe.  If you use a 1 3/4 inch cutter, you'll get about a dozen.

Now for the gravy.....  I don't have a recipe I follow when I make gravy, I do it by look, feel and taste. Today, I wrote down what I did so I could share my tasty Sausage Gravy with you to be the crowning glory on these luscious biscuits.

Sausage Gravy Ingredients:

1 package bulk sausage, mild or hot depending upon your taste
3 Tablespoons Butter
4 Tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 1/2 cups Milk

Gravy Directions:

Cook the sausage thoroughly in a cast iron skillet (or skillet of your choice).

Depending on the fat content of the sausage you purchase, add the 3 tablespoons of butter.  Mine was pretty lean, so there wasn't much grease to help mix with the flour for thicker.  While you don't want an abundance of grease, you need about 3 Tablespoons full.

Fry the sausage, breaking it apart into crumbles as it cooks.

When the sausage has been cooked and is nice and crumbly sprinkle in the flour, salt and pepper.

Mix thoroughly and cook for 3-4 minutes, to help remove the raw flour taste.

Reduce the heat to medium and carefully you the milk into the skillet.  Stir the mixture constantly and as the mixture starts to bubble, it will also thicken.  Continue to stir until it reaches the desired thickness.

Taste the gravy and adjust the seasonings if needed.  I like my sausage gravy peppery, so I added an additional 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.

To serve, break apart one of the biscuits, layer it with a ladle of gravy over the bottom half.  Place the top half back on and add another ladle of gravy. Call the gang to the table for a tasty and hearty biscuit and gravy breakfast!

....and that's What's Cooking at Cathy's ~ Enjoy!