It’s Sunday morning. The forecast is for less than springy temperatures. I have leftover buttermilk and oodles of time. My one and only plan this morning is to make buttermilk biscuits, slather them in butter and jam and eat them on the couch in my underwear. I suggest you do the same.

You can also go the breakfast sandwich route, which I highly suggest. Although, it works a little bit better with a slightly cooled biscuit. So you can eat a piping hot biscuit as an appetizer while you’re getting your fillings all together.

There are a couple of things that will help with the flakiness of your biscuits. Keep that butter cold. Like as cold as possible. The water in the butter turns to steam in the oven and gives you those lovely layers. Also, try your absolute darndest not to twist your biscuit cutter/cookie cutter/pint glass/mug as you cut into the dough. This will help keep the layers from smooshing into one another. If you’re looking for biscuits with a crunchier exterior, spread them out on your baking sheet, or use two baking sheets. For softer-sided biscuits, keep them close together. They grow up, not out, so you shouldn’t have to worry too much about collisions.

Happy breakfast!

2 ½ cups flour
1 or 2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, in tbsp pieces
1 cup buttermilk
1 tbsp salted butter, melted (optional but encouraged)

1. Preheat oven to 425°F and line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, powder, soda and salt.
3. Drop your very cold butter pieces (keep them in the fridge as you measure and mix the dry stuff) into the flour mixture, and stir just enough to coat the butter in the flour. Cut the butter into the dry mixture using a pastry cutter, two knives or your fingers. You’ll want to make sure you have some larger, pea-sized chunks and some tinier flakes, but don’t spend too much time worrying about it.
4. Slowly add the buttermilk and gently mix into the dough with a fork. When it has mostly come together, dump the dough onto a very lightly floured surface and gather it together in a pile. Flatten the pile into a rectangle, fold it in half, give it a 90° turn, and repeat 2 more times.
5. Flatten or roll your dough until it is about ½ inch thick. Using a biscuit cutter, a glass or a mug, cut out circles and place them on the prepared baking sheet.
6. Brush a tiny bit of melted butter on the tops of each biscuit.
7. Bake for about 12-15 minutes, until poofy and golden.
8. Let cool for a couple of minutes for the sake of your tongue. Split open, slather with butter and jam and devour.