I happened upon this more or less by accident the other day while rather loosely following a classic recipe. Since they turned out so well, I thought I’d better remember how I did it!

Best Biscuits

2 heaping cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (approx)
1/3 cup frozen margarine, thinly sliced
1 cup cold milk

1. Preheat oven to 425*F.
2. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt – using a whisk makes it quick.
3. Thinly slice the frozen margarine into the flour mixture. Work in with fingers, breaking the fat into smaller clumps until fairly evenly distributed.
4. Add 1 scant cup cold milk and stir in, then work with hands until dough is well moistened and gathers into a ball. Add a bit of additional milk if necessary so dough is not too dry and all flour is incorporated – a little bit sticky is just fine.
5. Turn out on well floured counter and pat out to about an inch thick. Cut out biscuits (you can use a small glass, or clean, empty 8oz. tomato sauce can, or similar if you don’t have a biscuit cutter). You’ll get about 8 or 9 biscuits.
6. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and put on very top shelf in oven. Set the timer for about 6 minutes and increase the heat to 450*F.
7. When timer goes off, move biscuits to the very bottom shelf and continue to bake for another 4 or 5 minutes, until biscuits are golden on top and dry on the sides. They should be crunchy on top, tender and flaky inside.

Notes:
You can try using frozen butter or cold shortening in place of margarine, if you like.
If you don’t want to fuss with the heat, or moving the biscuits around in the oven, just preheat to 450*F, put them in the middle and bake about 10 – 12 minutes.