Homemade biscuits are fluffy and delicious and while perfect for the holidays, are great for any time of the year. This flaky biscuit recipe only has 5 ingredients and comes together quickly, getting them on the table in about half an hour.
Why we love this recipe
If you need a very quick biscuit recipe, this is truly perfect. These biscuits bake up beautifully, are nice and flakey, have plenty of rise, and you only need 5 ingredients.
Biscuits are a common comfort food available on holiday tables around the country. You can have them for breakfast smeared with butter and jam, or serve them with another favorite, Biscuits and Gravy.
Ingredients you will need to make homemade biscuits
There’s only one wet ingredient, heavy cream. For this recipe you don’t need butter as well as milk because even though biscuit recipes need a fat, heavy cream provides all that you need.
Get all measurements, ingredients, and instructions in the printable version at the end of this post.
- Dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, sugar, salt
- Wet ingredient: heavy cream
How to make Homemade Biscuits
These step by step photos and instructions are here to help you visualize how to make this recipe. Please scroll down to simply print out the instructions!
Start by preheating the oven to 425 degrees F. Line your baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl.
- Pour about 1 cup of the cream over the dry ingredients. Using a fork and start tossing the ingredients together. If needed, add more cream, a spoonful at a time, until you have a nice soft dough.
- Reach into the bowl with your hands and give the dough a quick, gentle kneading – 3 or 4 turns should be just enough to bring everything together.
- Lightly dust a work surface with flour and turn out the dough. Dust the top of the dough very lightly with flour and pat the dough out with your hands or roll it with a pin until it is about 1/2 inch thick. Don’t worry if the dough isn’t completely even – a quick, light touch is more important than accuracy.
- Use a biscuit cutter to cut out as many biscuits as you can. Try to cut the biscuits close to one another so you get the most you can out of this first round.
- By hand or with a small spatula, transfer the biscuits to the baking sheet.
- Gather together the scraps, working them as little as possible, pat out to a 1/2-inch thickness and cut as many additional biscuits as you can; transfer these to the sheet.
- Bake the biscuits for 14 to 18 minutes, or until they are tall, puffed and golden brown. Transfer them to a serving basket.
Baking Tips
- Be careful not to overwork the dough or it can become tough.
- Freezing: The biscuits can be made to the point right before baking and frozen on the baking sheet. When frozen, wrap them airtight and they can be kept in the freezer for up to 2 months. Bake without defrosting – just add a couple more minutes to the oven time.
- Serving: Ideally these biscuits should go from oven to table and be served with cold sweet butter.
- Storing: You can keep the biscuits in a plastic bag overnight and give them a quick warm-up in the oven the next day, but you won’t recapture their freshly made flakiness.
What to serve homemade biscuits alongside
- Crockpot Beef Stew is one of my favorite cold weather recipes. Dipping a biscuit into the gravy is pure bliss.
- While I really love homemade sweet cornbread with a bowl of chili, biscuits are amazing too.
- Another stew favorite that homemade biscuits go well with is my Dutch Oven Goulash.
- Two favorite slow cooker beef recipes that these go with are my Crockpot Roast Beef and my Mississippi Pot Roast.
This recipe is from my old “Tuesdays with Dorie” baking days in the mid 2000s. This recipe is on page 23 in Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking From My Home to Yours
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More Bread and Rolls Recipes
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Homemade Biscuits
IMPORTANT - There are often Frequently Asked Questions within the blog post that you may find helpful. Simply scroll back up to read them!
Print It Rate ItIngredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp. baking powder
- 2 tsp. sugar
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 ¼ cups heavy cream
Things You'll Need
Before You Begin
- Freezing: The biscuits can be made to the point right before baking and frozen on the baking sheet. When frozen, wrap them airtight and they can be kept in the freezer for up to 2 months. Bake without defrosting – just add a couple more minutes to the oven time.
- Serving: Ideally these biscuits should go from oven to table and be served with cold sweet butter.
- Storing: You can keep the biscuits in a plastic bag overnight and give them a quick warm-up in the oven the next day, but you won't recapture their freshly made flakiness.
Instructions
- Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Get out a sharp 2-inch-diameter biscuit cutter (I used a glass, and it was fine), and line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.
- Whisk the flour(s), baking powder, sugar and salt together in a bowl. Pour about 1 cup of the cream over the dry ingredients, grab a fork and start tossing the ingredients together. If necessary, add more cream, a spoonful at a time, until you’ve got a nice soft dough. Now reach into the bowl with your hands and give the dough a quick, gentle kneading – 3 or 4 turns should be just enough to bring everything together.
- Lightly dust a work surface with flour and turn out the dough. Dust the top of the dough very lightly with flour and pat the dough out with your hands or roll it with a pin until it is about 1/2 inch high. Don’t worry if the dough isn’t completely even – a quick, light touch is more important than accuracy.
- Use the biscuit cutter to cut out as many biscuits as you can. Try to cut the biscuits close to one another so you get the most you can out of this first round. By hand or with a small spatula, transfer the biscuits to the baking sheet. Gather together the scraps, working them as little as possible, pat out to a 1/2-inch thickness and cut as many additional biscuits as you can; transfer these to the sheet. (The biscuits can be made to this point and frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight and kept for up to 2 months. Bake without defrosting – just add a couple more minutes to the oven time.)
- Bake the biscuits for 14 to 18 minutes, or until they are tall, puffed and golden brown. Transfer them to a serving basket.
Nutrition
This post originally appeared here on Apr 20, 2010.
Amanda Davis
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Mary Shoop says
Can you use almond flour. Trying to cut carbs.
Amanda Formaro says
We have not tested this recipe with almond flour. If you decide t experiment, we would love to hear your results. I did find this from Blue Diamon almond company:
“Almond flour can be substituted for regular flour at a 1:1 ratio. It is important to note that almond flour may require more egg to bind the flour.”
Brenda Jennings says
I always use buttermilk in my biscuits and cornbread we love it
Elaine Click says
Made these biscuits today…never had seen a biscuit recipe without shortening or oil. These were delicious! I possibly used less cream than I should have. I will use a bit more next time. My husband and I loved them for breakfast with eggs and bacon!
Shirley says
Tried these a bit ago! Cannot tell you how fast and easy this was and delicious! Instead of making circles I cut them into squares so I used every bit of dough.
Bonnie says
These biscuits are light and delicious!
Have been making biscuits for decades and these wonderful! Baked mine in a cast iron skillet,
Crusty brown on the bottom and flaky in the middle… Will enjoy this recipe for years to come!
Darlene says
are this gluten free?
Amanda Formaro says
No these are not gluten free
Michelle Hawkins says
Super yummy, super easy! Best biscuits my husband and I have had. We also shared with neighbors and they said the same thing! Thanks for the recipe, Amanda!
Fred says
Best biscuits I have ever made
Kat Simmons says
ALL my famy loved these! Thank you!
Kim says
Help! What did I do wrong, my biscuits didn’t rise but tasted delicious!
Amanda Formaro says
You may have overworked the dough. It’s important to use a light hand :)
Melissa S. says
Such a simple yet tasty recipe! They’re a big hit in our house and with growing boys I make these just about every day. Sometimes I add a bit of cinnamon and other times I make them more on the savory side by adding some onion and garlic powder. Delicious!
Eleanor Cummings says
Can’t mess with perfection. But you must double the recipe if you have men in the house that love biscuits. Just didn’t make enough for my two sons.
Audrey Chen says
Can I substitute butter in place of heavy cream and how much of it?
Amanda Formaro says
We have not tested this substitution, and because baking is a science I wouldn’t want to assume it would work.
Marissa says
Can I substitute heavy cream for Greek yogurt?
I want to make but that’s all I have in fridge at this moment :)
Thom says
Amanda, I’ve been looking for an easy biscuit recipe for quite some time. This fits the bill. Very tasty, and quick enough to make even after I wake up late. My wife loved them, so it’s a win! Thank you!
Carrie says
I was nervous to make these because the last time I made biscuits they were dry and didn’t rise. I thought I’d give these a try. I’m so glad I did! They look just as pictured, I also like that I can save on butter. Saving this recipe and sharing. I’m so glad I found this!
Detta Calhoun says
So so good! Easy to make. I probably had to add about another quarter of cup of cream but the biscuits rose and usually biscuits that are homemade are so flat. My husband does not usually like homemade biscuits and he loved these. I am going to try to add butter next time but honestly the recipe does not need it.
Romaine says
I agree these were one of the easiest Dorie recipes yet. Nice job!
TeaLady says
Looks like they rose beautifully. I have made them twice and they get a little higher, but not like yours.
Becky says
i loved how these just called for heavy cream too! yours look great! :)