“Touch of Grace” Biscuits

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F, and arrange a shelf slightly below the center of the oven. Butter an 8 or 9-inch round cake pan or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the self-rising flour, sugar, and salt. Work the shortening in with your fingers until there are no large lumps. Gently stir in the cream, then some of the buttermilk until dough resembles wet cottage cheese. It should be a wet mess — not soup, but cottage-cheese texture. If you are not using a low-protein flour, this may take more than 1 cup of buttermilk.

Spread the plain all-purpose flour (not self-rising) out on a plate or pie pan. With a medium (about 2 inches, #30) ice cream scoop or spoon, place three or four scoops of dough well apart in the flour. Sprinkle flour over each. Flour your hands. Turn a dough ball in the flour to coat, pick it up, and gently shape it into a round, shaking off the excess flour as you work.

Place this biscuit in the prepared pan. Coat each dough ball in the same way and place each shaped biscuit scrunched up against its neighbor so that the biscuits rise up and don’t spread out. Continue scooping and shaping until all dough is used.

Brush tops of biscuits with melted butter. Place the pan in the oven. Bake until lightly browned, 20 to 25 minutes. Invert onto one plate, then back onto another.

Serve immediately and as Shirley says, “Butter ‘em while they’re hot.”