These 2-Ingredient Biscuits Should Be Your Go-To Party Favor
When you've put in the thought and effort to organize a beautiful dinner party or cocktail hour, a perfect party favor to send your guests home with is the sweet cherry on top. Crisp store-bought cookies, a small box of chocolate truffles, or roasted mixed nuts are all just fine, but a homemade baked good that your guests can savor the next morning is even better. Something like these scratch-made biscuits that take mere minutes to assemble and need only two simple ingredients.
All you need to make them is equal parts self-rising flour and heavy cream. Add the cream to the flour a little at a time, stirring until it forms a shaggy dough. For drop biscuits, you can portion them out by scooping straight from the bowl onto a baking sheet with an ice cream scoop or spoon. Otherwise, turn the dough out onto a floured surface, flatten, and fold over itself a couple of times to create flaky layers (you can also cut into squares or use a round biscuit cutter).
With either method you choose, you'll want to then brush the dough with a bit more heavy cream, and bake for 10 minutes or so. And that's it! Let them cool completely before packing in tissue-lined pastry boxes or cellophane baggies for the perfect finishing touch.
Why these biscuits work so well
The fact that these biscuits lean on self-rising flour is what makes them work so well. Self-rising flour is actually three crucial ingredients all combined into one. It's made using soft, finely milled flour combined with baking powder and a bit of salt, although you should take a look at the packaging as some European brands only include flour and leavener. Also, you should probably check and see if your flour has expired, since leaveners in self-rising products will become less and less effective over time.
When it comes to throwing together these gift biscuits in a snap, self-rising flour definitely saves you time. But, if you don't have any on hand and are now faced with an urgent need, you can definitely whip up your own. For every 1 cup of all-purpose flour — or a half-and-half mix of all-purpose and cake flour — add 1½ teaspoons baking powder and ¼ teaspoon salt.
Making biscuits the classic way requires cutting a fat like butter or shortening into the dry ingredients and then incorporating a liquid like buttermilk. It definitely requires some elbow grease, and it is easy to work the dough too much or not enough. However, by using heavy cream, it has enough fat to make up for the butter and enough water content to replace the milk. Also, the consistency allows for easy integration without having to absolutely pummel the dough.
Tips for making the best easy biscuits
As mentioned, to make these two-ingredient biscuits requires equal amounts of both self-rising flour and heavy cream, so you can scale it up and down very easily. Measuring by weight instead of volume is very helpful here. All you need is a basic kitchen scale, or use measuring cups if you don't have a scale, but you may need to eyeball adding a little more flour or cream to the mix since the amounts will not be as exact.
Whatever you do, don't over-mix the dough — this is absolutely key. Otherwise, you will end up with biscuits that are tough and bread-y rather than light, tender, and just crumbly enough. Mix the dough just until the dry flour is incorporated, and then stop immediately. It should be moist and lumpy, but not homogeneous. It should hold together when scooped but still have some visible air pockets and shards of dough. If you choose to, the process of folding the dough to prepare it for cutting will make it more uniform, but, again, resist the urge to knead it into oblivion.
Make the party favors extra special with add-ons
No one is going to complain about receiving a few homemade biscuits as a party favor, but you can also make them more special with some simple additions. For sweet biscuits, incorporate a little sugar into the dough, and then top with another sprinkle of sweetness after you brush them with heavy cream. Cinnamon, lemon, or vanilla sugar would also be great here.
For a savory touch, top them with flaky salt and coarsely ground black pepper, or a mix of garlic flakes, onion flakes, poppy seeds, and sesame seeds to make "everything" biscuits. You can also add mix-ins to the dough itself such as grated cheddar cheese and fresh chives; just make sure the pieces are small so they don't overwhelm it all.
Pack the biscuits up in a little basket, box, or gift bag alongside complementary pairings. For ease, make sure they don't have to be refrigerated. Small jars of fruit preserves, apple butter, local honey, or jalapeño jelly would all be great as would an herbal tea blend or a bag of good coffee.