Tuesdays With Dorie~Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits

WHEW!!! I almost didn't make it this week, but the recipe really sounded way too good to miss out on. I came runnin' home from work Monday night and in the wink of an eye I had some fabulously delicious biscuits on my kitchen table, posing for their close up!! I'd like to shout-out a SUPER HUGE THANKS to ASHLEY over at eat me, delicious for choosing an EXCELLENT recipe for this weeks edition of TUESDAYS WITH DORIE*. I hosted a shower with my mom this weekend so my cookin' time was pretty spent and I nearly missed out on participating this week. Thankfully Erin picked a spectacular recipe that did not take too much prep time, and I was able to come home and make biscuits before Nate arrived home from work! I have been dying to make some biscuits for quite a while. My friend Lisa got me a fabulous gift this Christmas, a subscription to both Gourmet and Bon Appetite magazines!! The first issue I received was all about delicious Southern goodness. I thought about making biscuits, because they had some great recipes and Nate and I are both big biscuit fans. As of this week I had still not come around to making any of those recipes- so I gave this one a whirl, and it ROCKS!!




Another grand thing about this recipe is that you can make the dough, cut the biscuits, then they can be stored in the freezer for up to 2 months! Awesome!!!
I didn't have a biscuit cutter so I used a wine glass, then I thought I'd make some mini biscuits too! They were spectacular, I am a HUGE fan of this recipe!!



Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits
(Makes about 12 biscuits)
Dorie Greenspan's Baking; From My Home to Yours

2 cups all-purpose flour (or 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour and 1/3 cup cake flour)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces
1/2 cup cold sour cream
1/4 cold whole milk I used non-fat
1/3 cup finely chopped pecans, preferably toasted

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Get out a sharp 2-inch-diameter biscuit cutter and line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

Whisk the flour(s), baking powder, salt, and baking soda together in a bowl. Stir in the brown sugar, making certain there are no lumps. Drop in the butter and, using your fingers, toss to coat the pieces of butter with flour. Quickly, working with your fingertips (my favorite method) or a pastry blender, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly. You'll have pea-size pieces, pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and pieces the size of everything in between-- and that's just right.

Stir the sour cream and milk together and pour over the dry ingredients. Grab a fork and gently toss and turn the ingredients together until you've got a nice soft dough. Now reach into the bowl with your hands and give the dough a quick gentle kneading-- 3 or 4 turns should be just enough to bring everything together. Toss in the pecans and knead 2 to 3 times to incorporate them.

Lightly dust a work surface with flour and turn out the dough. Dust the top of the dough very lightly with flour, pat the dough out with your hands or toll it with a pin until it is about 1/2 inch high. Don't worry if the dough isn't completely even-- a quick, light touch is more important than accuracy.
Use the biscuit cutter to cut out as many biscuits as you can. Try to cut the biscuits close to one another so you get the most you can out of the first round. By hand or with a small spatula, transfer the biscuits to the baking sheet.

Gather together the scraps, working with them as little as possible, pat out to a 1/2-inch thickness and cut as many additional biscuits as you can; transfer these to the sheet. (The biscuits ca be made to this point and frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight and kept for up to 2 months. Bake without defrosting-- just add a couple more minutes to the oven time.)

Bake the biscuits for 14-18 minutes, or until they are tall, puffed and golden brown. Transfer them to a serving basket.