Angel Biscuits

[epicurean905]

When I was a child, I spent summers in Frisco City, Alabama with my grandmother. She was known county-wide for her angel biscuits. They were denser than the traditional biscuit and she folded one side over to resemble an angel's wing. We often had angel biscuits with spicy Conecuh sausage, Karo syrup, salmon croquettes or homemade fig preserves. She has since passed on and I have tried to find the recipe among her things, but to no avail. Do any of you know of these delights and/or have a recipe for them?

[Gifted Gourmet]

not denser really but healthier apparently ...

wonderful southern story and recipe here! Enjoy!

I get plump, golden brown rounds of goodness this time around. Perfection. I have duplicated the biscuit she remembers.

Slicing one open for her, I add a little butter and some of the Sarabeth's apricot orange marmalade I had given her for Christmas. She is smiling now.

"Simply superb!" she pronounces, after a bite. "I had forgotten how good these are."

I smile. Mother is eating. Angel biscuits.

[epicurean905]

not denser really but healthier apparently ...

wonderful southern story and recipe here! Enjoy!

I get plump, golden brown rounds of goodness this time around. Perfection. I have duplicated the biscuit she remembers.

Slicing one open for her, I add a little butter and some of the Sarabeth's apricot orange marmalade I had given her for Christmas. She is smiling now.

"Simply superb!" she pronounces, after a bite. "I had forgotten how good these are."

I smile. Mother is eating. Angel biscuits.

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Melissa, thank you for the story and recipe. I got a little choked up as a flood of memories came back. I will try the recipe this week and report my results.

[Jaymes]

Actually, there has been a great deal of chat here on eGullet (in several threads) about Angel Biscuits. They are a large part of a great many folks' childhoods.

Here is one thread with lots of hints and tips:

"Biscuits"

[jayhay]

I hadn't heard of Angel Biscuits, but I was touched by the story too, & now have to try the recipe.

[epicurean905]

Actually, there has been a great deal of chat here on eGullet (in several threads) about Angel Biscuits.  They are a large part of a great many folks' childhoods.

Here is one thread with lots of hints and tips: 

"Biscuits"

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Thanks for the thread, Jaymes. I am new to eGullet and am learning so much already.

[Gifted Gourmet]

I will try the recipe this week and report my results.

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That would be wonderful! Can't wait to hear the ending of your quest for the elusive "angel biscuits" ...

and a Big Welcome to you here on eG, epicurean905!

[Jaymes]

Well, welcome!

And learning to navigate the search engine will be a great boon to you. There's just so much to discover here.

[Lan4Dawg]

Remember there are "angel biscuits" and then there are "angel" biscuits. The former is a type of biscuit noted for its relative light and airiness--like an angel--hence the name. The latter is any type of biscuit made by an "angel"--see most Southerners' grand mother, mother, great aunt, wife, sister, significant other, et al. Although any one who will get up in the morning and make biscuits for you deserves "angel" status. The latter are much more important and leave a much more lasting impression.

The Fuss is known for her biscuits and woe be unto us should we show up in Athens on game day w/o a mess of biscuits accompanied w/ sausage, ham, an assortment of home made jams, marmalades, jellies, &c. We get to Athens some time between 7.30/8 in the a.m. and are met by a bunch of hungry Red Coats waiting for biscuits.

She used to make a version of the "Touch of Grace" biscuits but she found another (fr/ "Secrets from Southern Living Test Kitchens" book) that we like better. She makes a relatively wet dough (uses more butter milk than is called for) as she likes the way she can work w/ them better.

tee hee! (I just guilted her in to making a batch of chocolate chip cookies for me since she slept in this morning and did not make biscuits to go w/ brunch. She is as popular for her choc chip cookies as her biscuits and those same Red Coats who show up in the morning for biscuits usually swing by our tail gate after the game for choc chip cookies)

[ludja]

When I was a child, I spent summers in Frisco City, Alabama with my grandmother.  She was known county-wide for her angel biscuits.  They were denser than the traditional biscuit and she folded one side over to resemble an angel's wing.  We often had angel biscuits with spicy Conecuh sausage, Karo syrup, salmon croquettes or homemade fig preserves. She has since passed on and I have tried to find the recipe among her things, but to no avail.  Do any of you know of these delights and/or have a recipe for them?

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Thanks for sharing your memories, epicurean905. Fig preserves, sausage, karo syrup, salmon croquettes--sounds delicious and lovely.

If you don't already have it, you may enjoy Bill Neal's, "Biscuits, Spoonbread and Sweet Potato Pie". It is a wonderful Southern cookbook for baking. Besides the wonderful recipes, there are stories and background information with almost every recipe. I treasure it as one of my top five cookbooks in my large collection.

Edited June 27, 2005 by ludja (log)

[epicurean905]

When I was a child, I spent summers in Frisco City, Alabama with my grandmother.  She was known county-wide for her angel biscuits.  They were denser than the traditional biscuit and she folded one side over to resemble an angel's wing.  We often had angel biscuits with spicy Conecuh sausage, Karo syrup, salmon croquettes or homemade fig preserves. She has since passed on and I have tried to find the recipe among her things, but to no avail.  Do any of you know of these delights and/or have a recipe for them?

←

Thanks for sharing your memories, epicurean905. Fig preserves, sausage, karo syrup, salmon croquettes--sounds delicious and lovely.

If you don't already have it, you may enjoy Bill Neal's, "Biscuits, Spoonbread and Sweet Potato Pie". It is a wonderful Southern cookbook for baking. Besides the wonderful recipes, there are stories and background information with almost every recipe. I treasure it as one of my top five cookbooks in my large collection.

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Thank you for the recommendation. I collect Southern cookbooks, but have not run across this one. Headed to Amazon right now!

[Sonia]

My daughter in law makes angel bisquits every thanksgiving. All of the grandchildren gather around the table with the uncooked biscuits and dip each one into a bowl of melted butter before placing them on a cookie sheet. They remind me of the lady getting the manicure in that old tv commercial. Her hand is soaking in a small bowl and asks what's in it. The manicurist says "Palmolive Liquid. You're soaking in it!"

The biscuits come out of the oven lightly browned and they just melt in your mouth. She has been making them faithfully for twenty five years now but when she started out she tried making them with some sort of fake salt - I forget the name of the product. They tasted foul. Since then she makes them the old fashioned way with plenty of butter and plenty of salt.