Pumpkin Biscuits
Well, well, well. Here we are again, talking about pumpkin… again. But we just keep finding new and exciting ways to enjoy it! Is that really so wrong? We knew you’d come around.
Our Pumpkin Muffins use, of course, our Pumpkin Pie Spice. This seasoning blend has cinnamon, ginger, clove, and nutmeg, and they perfectly complement the flavors of pumpkin. These biscuits were balanced and neither overly sweet or savory. They were simply good!
As for making the biscuits, you could choose to do them “drop” style, or roll them out and cut them so that they are symmetrical and even. If you drop them, take a heaping Tablespoon-full and drop it on your baking sheet, evening it out with your fingers. If you decide to cut them, roll out the dough to be about an inch thick, and then cut them out using a 1/3-cup measuring cup. You can get 10 or 12 biscuits with this method, depending on the size of the cup you use and the thickness of the dough. Just keep an eye on them in the oven.
As with most baking recipes, there’s a little bit of science that goes into getting your best results. One of the most important details for this particular recipe is the inclusion of COLD butter- emphasis on the “cold” part so that you can get the most delicious, flaky layers in your biscuits. We put our butter in the freezer when we started these biscuits so that the cubes of butter were extra cold, and when it comes to incorporating it with the flour, we recommend using a food processor instead of the cut-in method. Pulsing the processor will break the butter down quickly without too much additional heat either from your hand or from ambient air temperature. It's also significantly faster. The cold butter is distributed evenly through the flour and will create little steam pockets as the biscuits bake, creating a flaky and more tender product.
When it's time to mix the wet and dry ingredients, just mix them enough to have a cohesive dough. You don't want to knead the dough and activate the gluten chain, which will toughen the biscuit. And you don't want to melt all that nice cold butter before it goes into the oven. Minimal contact creates better biscuits. Another integral part of this recipe comes from buttermilk, a milk product that naturally has a higher level of lactic acid than just regular milk. The lactic acid reacts with the baking soda to help give a better rise. If you don’t have buttermilk on hand but need to make Pumpkin Biscuits like, RIGHT NOW, then substitute one cup of milk plus one tablespoon of vinegar.
When would you eat a pumpkin biscuit? If you ask us, it would be great with some Sweet Apple Chicken Sausage and Roasted Vegetables, or maybe to help mop up some Spicy Pumpkin Soup. Yes, pumpkin might be often stereotyped as a seasonal flavor, but it’s delicious year round!
- 1 ¾ Cups all purpose flour, plus more for rolling
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
- 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces
- ⅓ cup buttermilk
- ¾ cup pumpkin puree
- 2 Tablespoons light brown sugar, loosely packed
- In a food processor or a large bowl, combine dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, Pumpkin Pie Spice, and salt.
- If using a food processor, add the butter to the dry ingredients and pulse until the flour looks like coarse sand and butter is well incorporated. If using fork and knife, cut butter into dry ingredients until the flour looks like coarse sand and butter is well incorporated.
- In another bowl, combine buttermilk, pumpkin puree, and light brown sugar. Add the dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and mix by hand just until ingredients have blended and a dough is formed. Do not overmix.
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You have 2 options for the shape of the biscuits:
- If you want cut biscuits, lightly flour your surface and roll dough to 1” thickness. Use a 2” cutter to cut the biscuits. We’ve found that a ⅓ cup measuring cup works well. Just take a knife and cut around cup. Place biscuits on a greased baking sheet touching each other.
- If you want drop biscuits, simply drop dough on baking sheet with a spoon. Gently shape into rounds with your fingers.
- Place in oven and bake for 20-25 minutes at 425F.
