28 Fluffy Biscuits You Can Eat with Anything

When it comes right down to it, biscuits make everything better. They’re as delicious on their own as they are sopping up a hearty soup, and we’d gladly eat them topped with butter or jam — or nothing! Biscuits are a beloved Southern staple. And while recipes vary, the key to making the best biscuits does not: Gently mixing the dough by hand is a must. We tried several versions of this recipe, including one with double the amount of baking powder; those biscuits turned out puffy and beautiful, but ultimately they were too dry. So, we tweaked the baking powder amount along with the butter and buttermilk and arrived at these beauties: flaky, golden, tender and moist, just as biscuits should be. (And, yes, you need to mix them by hand!)

Eddie can pinpoint the moment he began falling in love with food: the first time he rolled out homemade biscuit dough with his grandmother Geraldine. The women in his family have passed down this recipe for generations, and it’s definitely one to save in your collection.

These buttermilk biscuits taste like the classic, but their irresistibly lofty pull-apart layers set them above the rest. We achieved the fluffy interior with a few simple tricks. We used grated frozen butter because it is quicker and easier to incorporate into the dry ingredients than big chunks. This keeps the butter cold longer, which translates into flakier biscuits. While many recipes rely on a folding technique to create layers, cutting and stacking lessens the gluten development, making the dough easier to work with and the layers a better consistency. And dusting each piece of dough with flour before stacking (similar to the technique for paratha) creates definition between the layers.

Keep this classic recipe for fluffy biscuits: You'll use it over and over.