Best 7 Southern Cathead Biscuits Recipes

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**Cathead Biscuits: A Southern Delight**

In the realm of Southern cuisine, cathead biscuits reign supreme, embodying the essence of comfort and hospitality. These colossal biscuits, named for their resemblance to a cat's head, are a culinary masterpiece that has captured hearts and taste buds for generations. With their golden-brown exteriors, fluffy interiors, and irresistible aroma, cathead biscuits are a staple at breakfast tables, picnics, and potlucks across the region. Join us on a culinary journey as we explore the delightful world of cathead biscuits, including a collection of time-honored recipes that showcase their versatility and enduring appeal. From classic buttermilk biscuits to delectable variations infused with herbs, cheese, and even bacon, these recipes offer a tantalizing array of flavors and textures to satisfy every palate. Embrace the tradition of Southern hospitality and indulge in the irresistible charm of cathead biscuits, a culinary treasure that promises to warm your heart and fill your belly with delight.

Here are our top 7 tried and tested recipes!

CATHEAD BISCUITS



Cathead Biscuits image

This is the old-time recipe from our grandmamas. There is no real measurement in this for the shortening. Wonderful and tasty heavy biscuit from the old times. Great with homemade sausage gravy. Always always always use White Lily® flour for the fluffiest biscuits. I usually don't always use all of the buttermilk. I seem to usually have just under a 1/4 cup leftover.

Provided by Hollinhead77

Categories     Bread     Quick Bread Recipes     Biscuits

Time 25m

Yield 8

Number Of Ingredients 5

4 cups self-rising flour (such as WhiteLily®)
1 pinch salt
3 tablespoons room-temperature vegetable shortening (such as Crisco®), or as needed
1 ¾ cups buttermilk, or as needed
¼ cup melted butter for brushing, or to taste

Steps:

  • Preheat an oven to 475 degrees F (245 degrees C). Grease an 8-inch cake pan.
  • Sift flour and salt together into a large mixing bowl. Make a dent in flour by pushing flour from center toward sides of bowl. Add 2 walnut-size lumps of shortening and a splash of buttermilk to the flour where you made the dent. Work the shortening into the flour using fingers in a twisting motion (rub thumb against pointer and middle finger motion) until the shortening is fully incorporated into the flour.
  • Pour buttermilk into the flour about 1/4 cup at a time, continuing to work it in with your fingers until the buttermilk is completely incorporated into a sticky dough.
  • Roll dough into 8 large balls and drop into prepared cake pan, working around the outside and putting the last one in middle to fill the pan. Press dough balls with back of fingers to flatten until they touch and are about 3/4- to 1-inch thick.
  • Bake in preheated oven until the tops are golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Brush tops with melted butter.

Nutrition Facts : Calories 336 calories, Carbohydrate 49 g, Cholesterol 17.4 mg, Fat 11.6 g, Fiber 1.7 g, Protein 8 g, SaturatedFat 5.2 g, Sodium 910.3 mg, Sugar 2.7 g

CATHEAD BISCUITS



Cathead Biscuits image

The recipe for these extra-large biscuits comes from Virginia Willis, the author of "Secrets of the Southern Table." A phrase her grandfather once used, the name indicates that it's a biscuit as big as a cat's head. Each one is golden brown and slightly crisp on the outside, with a light, airy interior.

Provided by Martha Stewart

Categories     Food & Cooking     Breakfast & Brunch Recipes     Bread Recipes

Yield Makes about 9

Number Of Ingredients 5

4 cups White Lily or other Southern all-purpose flour, or cake flour (not self-rising), plus more for rolling
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes and chilled
2 cups buttermilk

Steps:

  • Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat. (You can also bake the biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet.)
  • In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Pour in buttermilk and mix until just barely combined. It will be a shaggy mass. (Alternatively, you can mix the dough in a food processor: Pulse to combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add butter and pulse until it resembles coarse meal. Pour in buttermilk through feed tube and pulse until just barely combined.)
  • Turn shaggy mass out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead lightly, using the heel of your hand to compress and push dough away from you, then fold it back over itself. Give dough a small turn and repeat four or five times. (You want to just barely activate the gluten, not overwork it.)
  • Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out dough 1 inch thick. Using a 3 1/2-inch round cutter dipped in flour, cut out rounds (press cutter straight down without twisting so biscuits will rise evenly when baked).
  • Place biscuits on prepared sheet. (If biscuits are baked close together, sides will be tender. If biscuits are baked farther apart, sides will be crisp.)
  • Reroll scraps once. Do not simply roll them into a ball; this will create a knot of gluten strands. Instead, place the pieces one on top of the other in layers, then roll out dough and cut out more rounds.
  • Bake until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool just slightly. Serve warm.

CATHEAD BISCUITS



Cathead Biscuits image

This Old Fashioned Recipe for Cathead Biscuits is delicious.

Provided by The Southern Lady

Categories     Breakfast

Time 30m

Number Of Ingredients 4

2 cups self-rising flour
1 to 2 tablespoons shortening at room temperature ((Mama used lard and about the size of a walnut))
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon salt (Optional)

Steps:

  • Work the shortening into the flour until it's like coarse crumbs. (I use a spoon to do this). Add the buttermilk and stir until makes a ball in the bowl. You can either pinch off the dough or cut it with a biscuit cutter. I use a tin can because I like to make these biscuits good size like my mama's biscuits.
  • Grease or spray pan. Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes until brown on top.
  • This recipe only makes 8 biscuits if you make them like I do.

SOUTHERN BISCUITS



Southern Biscuits image

For a taste of homemade comfort, bake Alton Brown's buttery, flaky Southern Biscuits recipe from Good Eats on Food Network.

Provided by Alton Brown

Categories     side-dish

Time 40m

Yield 1 dozen

Number Of Ingredients 7

2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons shortening
1 cup buttermilk, chilled

Steps:

  • Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
  • In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using your fingertips, rub butter and shortening into dry ingredients until mixture looks like crumbs. (The faster the better, you don't want the fats to melt.) Make a well in the center and pour in the chilled buttermilk. Stir just until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky.
  • Turn dough onto floured surface, dust top with flour and gently fold dough over on itself 5 or 6 times. Press into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough. Place biscuits on baking sheet so that they just touch. Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting. (Biscuits from the second pass will not be quite as light as those from the first, but hey, that's life.)
  • Bake until biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minutes.

Nutrition Facts : Calories 121, Fat 4.5 grams, SaturatedFat 2 grams, Cholesterol 6 milligrams, Sodium 331 milligrams, Carbohydrate 17 grams, Fiber 0.5 grams, Protein 3 grams, Sugar 1 grams

FLUFFY CATHEAD BISCUITS WITH HONEY BUTTER



Fluffy Cathead Biscuits with Honey Butter image

Cat head (or cathead) biscuits are a Southern staple whose name refers to their large size (about as big as a cat's head). The dough for this hand-rolled biscuit recipe is made by incorporating flour into the wet ingredients, instead of the reverse. The result is a fluffy (rather than flaky) biscuit, ready to be split and spread with flavorful honey butter.

Provided by Joe Sevier

Categories     Biscuit     Bake     Breakfast     New Year's Day     Peanut Free     Tree Nut Free     Soy Free

Yield Makes 12 biscuits

Number Of Ingredients 12

For the biscuits:
1/2 cup buttermilk powder
3 tablespoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
Pinch of sugar
6 tablespoons lard or bacon fat, cut into pieces and slightly softened
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces and slightly softened, plus more, melted, if desired
3 1/2-4 cups all-purpose flour, divided, plus more
For the honey butter:
1/2 cup flavorful honey (such as buckwheat)
1/4 cup unsalted butter, slightly softened
1/2 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt

Steps:

  • For the biscuits:
  • Arrange rack in middle of oven; preheat to 400°F. Whisk buttermilk powder, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl until evenly distributed and no lumps remain. Add 2 cups water and whisk to combine. Add lard and butter.
  • Add 2 cups flour and mix with a fork until mixture resembles porridge. Using fork, press fats against side of bowl to cut into smaller, irregular, flattened pieces.
  • Fold in remaining 1 1/2-2 cups flour by the half cup with fork until a wet dough forms. Turn out dough onto a well-floured surface. Dust top of dough with more flour. Gently fold dough into itself until it feels like a pillow and is no longer sticky. Using a floured bench scraper or butter knife, divide dough into 12 equal pieces.
  • Working with 1 piece at a time, dip cut sides in flour and gently roll into a ball with your hands. Nestle each ball side by side in a large cast-iron skillet or on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake biscuits until lightly browned, 25-30 minutes. Brush with melted butter, if desired. Serve with honey butter.
  • For the honey butter:
  • Combine honey, butter, and salt in a medium bowl. Mash with fork until just combined but not emulsified.

SOUTHERN "CATHEAD" BISCUITS



Southern

My father-in-law likes "cat-head" biscuits. For those of you from outside of the deep south, a "cat-head biscuit" is simply a southern buttermilk biscuit the size of a cat-head. He told me, "That way, it doesn't fall apart when you slice it for (homemade) figs (preserves.) I like to bake them with the sides touching so that they are soft on the edges. If you prefer a crunchier biscuit, place them about 2 inches apart on a flat stone/pan.

Provided by cook from scratch

Categories     Breads

Time 20m

Yield 9 cat-head biscuits

Number Of Ingredients 3

3 cups white lily self-rising flour (I use unbleached)
1 cup buttermilk (I use 3/4 cup while milk and a splash of vinegar)
1/4-1/3 cup cooking oil

Steps:

  • Preheat oven to 450°F
  • Measure 1 cup of buttermilk into liquid measuring cup. I use 3/4 cup whole milk with a splash of Heinz White Vinegar. Let sit a few minutes until you need it.
  • In a medium bowl, measure the flour by spooning it into a one-cup measure and leveling off with a knife. (This is very important!) Sometimes I sift it. Most of the time I do not.
  • Make a deep well and add the oil and buttermilk.
  • Stir gently until moistened. Sprinkle with even flour to allow handling of the dough.
  • I shape my biscuits by hand but you could also roll them out and cut them. Place them in a 9x9 Pampered Chef Baker (stoneware.) I have used Pampered Chef stoneware for the last ten years and it has never failed me. However, for those of you still using metal bakeware, just use a regular square baking pan.

Nutrition Facts : Calories 211.9, Fat 6.7, SaturatedFat 1, Cholesterol 1.1, Sodium 557.8, Carbohydrate 32.2, Fiber 1.1, Sugar 1.4, Protein 5

CATHEAD BISCUITS



Cathead Biscuits image

Don't worry, there aren't any actual cat's heads involved. The origins of the name are lost to time, but the conventional wisdom seems to be that they're called that because they're about the size of a cat's head. An old Appalachian favorite. Less fuss than rolled and cut biscuits. White Lily flour is preferred.

Provided by xtine

Categories     Breads

Time 30m

Yield 8 serving(s)

Number Of Ingredients 7

2 1/4 cups flour
1/3 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
5 tablespoons shortening (lard, butter or crisco)
1 cup buttermilk
1/8 cup melted butter, for tops of biscuits (optional)

Steps:

  • Mix dry ingredients and sift into mixing bowl, then cut in lard or crisco until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.
  • Stir in buttermilk until it is incorporated with the flour mixture. The dough will be kind of wet and very sticky.
  • Flour your hands and turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough in the flour just enough to make it handleable - you don't want it to stick to your hands too much, but don't work in too much extra flour either or the biscuits will be heavy and taste of raw flour.
  • For each biscuit, pinch off a piece of dough about the size of a large egg or a small lemon and pat out in the ungreased pan with your hands. You don't want it to be really flat, just pat it down a bit so it's relatively biscuit-shaped and about 1 inch high.
  • Bake at 475 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes until the tops are golden brown. Keep your eye on them while they're in the oven so they don't burn.
  • Brush tops of biscuits with melted butter, if desired.

Tips:

  • Use high-quality ingredients. Fresh buttermilk, all-purpose flour, and unsalted butter are essential for making the best cathead biscuits.
  • Make sure the buttermilk is cold. This will help the biscuits to rise properly.
  • Use a pastry cutter or two forks to cut the butter into the flour. This will create small pieces of butter that will melt and create flaky layers in the biscuits.
  • Don't overmix the dough. Overmixing will make the biscuits tough.
  • Let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes before rolling it out. This will allow the gluten to relax and make the biscuits more tender.
  • Roll out the dough to a thickness of about 1/2-inch. If the dough is too thick, the biscuits will be dense.
  • Use a biscuit cutter to cut out the biscuits. If you don't have a biscuit cutter, you can use a glass or a cup.
  • Place the biscuits on a greased baking sheet. Make sure the biscuits are not touching each other.
  • Bake the biscuits in a preheated oven at 450°F for 10-12 minutes, or until they are golden brown.

Conclusion:

Cathead biscuits are a delicious and versatile Southern dish. They can be served on their own, with butter and honey, or with your favorite gravy. They can also be used to make sandwiches, sliders, and other dishes. No matter how you serve them, cathead biscuits are sure to be a hit.

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