Of Biscuits and Apple Butter

So it's the canning exchange in a few days - I'm bringing apple butter. Do you know what's amazing to put apple butter on? Fresh made warm biscuits. Guess what I don't have a good recipe for? Fresh made warm biscuits. I mean I can open a mean can of premade biscuits that scare you when they pop - but I'm talking elbow grease and working hard at it fluffy biscuits. I wanted to try out this recipe because I thought it could be a winner. I even put the wet in the wet and the dry in the dry and stashed it in the fridge like I would for the exchange. The dough stirred together quite nicely when I realized I could just as easy scoop these out with an ice cream scoop, who needs to roll them and get extra flour involved? Not this girl. To the pan! With an ice cream scoop in hand.
These baked up crackly and delicious. They melted in your mouth but you know what they'd struggle to do? Hold apple butter. They are perfect for a bit of butter melting around the edges and eaten by the hand fulls... but they aren't those perfect biscuits with layers made to hold a sea of apple butter. I either need to consider another recipe - or more than likely go by a can of dough - as time wanes. This is a great recipe - and using the ice cream scoop? Genious! So give it a whirl!. I bet you can even dip these in apple butter... ooh... that's an option... mmm apple butter and biscuits!

Mile High Perfect Biscuits

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
3/4 c. buttermilk
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup cold water, divided*
1 stick cold or frozen butter, cubed

Preheat oven to 425ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a non-stick baking mat.
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder.
Create a well in the middle of the bowl. Add the buttermilk, egg, shortening, and 2 tbsp of the cold water into the well. Use a wooden spoon to start mixing and "cutting" to form a dough. Take care to not over-mix.
Add the cubes of butter, and use your hands to knead the butter into the dough (no more than 7-8 times). Some of the butter will incorporate to help moisten the dough, but mostly you want the butter to REMAIN in small chunks throughout the dough. This will make the biscuits fluffy.
Turn dough out onto a non-stick surface (use cooking spray if you need to, but try to avoid using flour which will dry the biscuits out). Press into a 1 1/2 inch layer, making it as level as you can.
Use a round cutter to cut biscuits out. Place each one on the prepared cookie sheet, edges touching each other.
Sprinkle salt over top of the dough.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, until outer edges start turning golden brown.
Serve warm! Or store at room temperature in a sealed container for up to 2 days. However: best fresh!