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Southern Cat Head Biscuits Recipe

Ingredients

How to make it

  • Preheat oven to 425
  • Mix dry ingredients in large mixing bowl
  • work in shortening witha pastry blender until you have a fine, irregular mixture of small crumbs.
  • Add mik all at once and stir with fork until dough comes together.
  • Turn out on lightly floured surface and GENTLY knead dough no more than 12 or 14 times. This is the critical step. If you overknead you will develop the flour gluten and have tough biscuits.
  • Pat dough lightly until it is slightly more than 1/2 inch thick
  • At this point you can use a sharp knife and cut into squares or other shapes or use a 2 inch round cutter or empty can. If using round cutter, press scraps together and form a couple of extra biscuits.
  • Place at least one inch apart on ungreased baking or cookie sheet.
  • Bake for about 15 minutes until puffy and browned.

Reviews & Comments 15

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  • 22566 8 years ago
    Great Instructions...
    It takes the right hand
    ~and~
    The correct technic
    To make an excellent Southern Biscuit :o)
    Thank You
    Kind Regards
    Joyce
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    " It was good "
    pointsevenout ate it and said...
    Kinda' puny. But still good. I'm used to a 3" biscuit.
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  • betty777 14 years ago
    I'm looking for a biscuit recipe like my grandmother from Arkansas used to make. They were more like a parker house roll. She used raw ingredients because they lived on a farm and she cooked them in a wood stoveoven. Does anyone remember this type of biscuit??
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    " It was excellent "
    gapeach55 ate it and said...
    Haven't made biscuits in a long time but homemade are the best.Will have to give this a shot. Can you use self rising flour and leave out the cream of tartar,salt and baking powder?
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    " It was excellent "
    meals4abby ate it and said...
    Thanks for the great recipe and for the tips! I've always had problems with my biscuits. They just never turned out. I'm going to make these this morning and serve with my sausage gravy. I'll let you know how it worked out!
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    " It was excellent "
    momo_55grandma ate it and said...
    Southern comfort cathead biscuts a true family recipe . make them love htem Yeah Yeah Yeah.
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  • tnacndn 16 years ago
    My Daddy always used this name for a big ole home made biscuit, I have never mastered the art myself.
    Gem
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  • mellian 16 years ago
    It's an art to make a good biscuit.
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  • chefjeb 16 years ago
    It's not the heat of your hand, it's the stretching activity in the kneading. Be gentle. If you're too gentle, however, you will have a biscuit that wil fall apart. It's really an experience thing.
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    " It was good "
    pointsevenout ate it and said...
    Can you use a piece of wax paper over the dough as an insulator between the heat of your hand and the dough when you pat it down?
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    " It was excellent "
    notyourmomma ate it and said...
    Your hints on how to handle biscuit dough are priceless. Thank you very much. I will indeed pretend that the dough is HOT HOT HOT and be gentle. Quite the opposite of my french bread baquette kneading, where I work out all my frustrations of the day on two poor loaves. But all is good with hot bread and sweet butter.
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  • chefjeb 16 years ago
    homecomfort: You can indeed pat them, but the problem is that unless you are experienced and know how to do a very light touch you will toughen the biscuit by developing the gluten. Unless you bake biscuits frequently, which many on this site don't, the better way would be to use a can and cut the biscuit without further handling. Don't use a glass, which would seal the edges, A can or knife works just fine. The name cathead refers to its size, not dimples. It's the size of a cathead. My grandmother made cathead busicuts for her 13 children and later for grandchildren on a wood stove and she used a can. I still remember visiting and getting a cold busicut and she would poke her finger into it and she would fill it with cane syrup made on the farm. The Mississippi Departmetn of Agriculture does this at the state fair every year.
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  • homecomfort 16 years ago
    Cat Heads aren't cut with a cutter. Pince off a piece of dough, mash it more or less flat with your fist. Your two middle knuckles will make the indentations that make it look like a cat's head.
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    " It was excellent "
    ramlynrose ate it and said...
    These are biscuits like my momma used to make.
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  • tnacndn 17 years ago
    I remember when I was a little girl my daddy talking about Cathead biscuits.
    ~Gem~
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The Cook

chefjeb Carthage, MS

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