Shortening Biscuits

It's a bit early to start the annual chometz purge, but I'm going on vacation next week and decided to get a jump on it.  One batch of vegetarian tamales would get rid of the remaining husks and masa harina in the pantry.

I made the filling, soaked the husks, and it was time to get down the flour.  I opened the bag, and the inside was crawling with teeny tiny grain bugs.  Tossed that and the now-unuseable husks and changed my plans to stew with cornbread.  Opened the cornmeal, and found more bugs.  This is why you should always freeze your milled products for two days before opening and whenever they won't be used for an extended period of time.  I didn't follow my own advice, but at least it got rid of a whole bunch of chometz products.

My A.P. flour was fine because I run through it so fast.  I went searching for biscuit recipes.  The one in the Bible is almost identical to the scone recipe I use.  Swap shortening for the butter and omit the sugar.  I whipped those up in twenty minutes, which is way less time than the tamales would have taken.

1 C flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tb chilled shortening
*1/4 C plus 2 Tb milk

1.  Preheat oven to 450º.  Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt.

2.  Cut in shortening until pea-sized.  Smaller than the flakes you want for pie crust, but not overly mixed in.

3.  Stir in milk.  Knead a few strokes until uniform.  Press out to 1/2" thick.  Either cut into rounds with a 2" biscuit cutter or square off the edges (ish) and cut into squares like I did.

4.  Bake 12 to 15 minutes, until lightly golden.  Break apart if baked touching (for softer sides and less of a crust), and cool enough to handle before serving.

Makes about 8

Difficulty rating  π