This baking powder biscuits recipe comes from my great grandmother on my mom’s side. My mom and uncle called their maternal grandma ‘Gam’, which is how we got the name for the recipe. My mom remembers sitting in her Gam’s kitchen, at the table, watching the biscuits being made. Dough being rolled, shapes being cut. A few times, she even helped, even though being in the kitchen wasn’t really her thing. She remembers her brother, mom and dad spreading butter, strawberry jam, and even whipped cream atop the biscuits, making a sort of strawberry shortcake. My first memory of eating these biscuits was when I was quite young... young enough to have never eaten biscuits before. We (my mom, dad, sister and I) were having a tea party, organized by my sister. That was her thing at the time; tea parties and restaurants hosted in our kitchen. My mom had helped my sister prepare for this tea party, and in doing so, helped my sister make baking powder biscuits ---or tea biscuits--- which is what we called them at the time. My sister sat us all down around a table, complete with a nice table cloth and fancy teacups, both from the mostly off-limits china cabinet in our dining room. She even arranged a vase of flowers, violets and dandelions as a centrepiece. She arrived with a plate of biscuits and butter, and handed us each one. I remember not being able to stop eating them, like potato chips or chocolate. The sweet, buttery flavour melted in my mouth. Whenever I’m baking the biscuits around my grandfather, he’ll approach me, stand there for a moment then say loudly “Biscuits!” I don’t know why he does this. Maybe it reminds him of the past. Or maybe he’s just acting silly.
Instructions Ingredients
Mix the first four ingredients.
Cut cold butter into the first ingredients, then, using a pastry blender, cut until the size of peas.
Add milk to other ingredients.
Stir with a fork.
Form dough into a ball then gently roll out.
Cut dough into biscuits using circular cookie cutter.