Buttermilk Biscuits with Blueberry Butter

I have a serious thing for butter. Like serious.

Senior year of college I went to South Beach on spring break with a bunch of friends. We rented a condo with a “full” kitchen, thinking we’d save some money by cooking a bit. Cooking consisted of making ramen and eating it out of water glasses (because there were no bowls), so needless to say there wasn’t too much going down in the kitchen. But before we left I had visions of whipping up big breakfasts for the group before heading to the beach everyday. And that breakfast prep would require butter. Not a ton- just a stick or so to get us through the week. So why buy a full pack when we got there? No no no- I would just bring a stick of butter in my suitcase. Makes perfect sense, right? Yeah, my roommate pretty much vetoed that plan.

So needless to say I kind of love butter, and this recipe really brings out that love by having it be the star in both the biscuits and the biscuit spread The combo brings together to of my absolute favorite food bloggers- Deb and Ashley- so you really cannot go wrong here. I’d recommend either doubling the batch of biscuits or planning on making some pancakes that same week to use up all the butter. Or you could just slather it on toast- that would be pure heaven.

Buttermilk Biscuits from Smitten Kitchen

Makes 10-12 biscuits

• 2 1/4 cups  all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon table salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 9 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
• 3/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 °F and cover baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda in large, wide bowl. Using fingertips or a pastry blender, work butter into dry ingredients until the mixture resembles a coarse meal, Add buttermilk and stir until large, craggy clumps form. Reach hands into bowl and knead mixture briefly until it just holds together.

Transfer dough to floured counter and pat out until 1/2 to 3/4-inch thick (err on the thin side if uncertain, as the tall ones will literally rise and then tip over, like mine did the day I photographed these). Using a round cutter (2 inches for regular sized biscuits, 3 inches for the monstrous ones shown above), press straight down — twisting produces less layered sides — and transfer rounds to prepared sheet, spacing two inches apart.

Bake until biscuits are golden brown on top, about 12 minutes. Cool slightly, then serve warm.

Blueberry Butter from Not Without Salt

• 1 stick butter, salted (or add 1/4 tsp salt), softened
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Confectioner’s sugar
• 3/4 cup fresh blueberries

Combine the butter and the sugar. Mash the blueberries with the butter until the butter is lightly colored from the blueberry skins. You still want to maintain lots of nice blueberry chunks, so be careful not to over mash. Store in the fridge for up to one week.