The Best Pie Crust Biscuits, a Recipe for “All Gone”

In keeping with my British heritage, my children are being raised with mid-afternoon tea time. They love tea time, especially when tea time is accompanied by biscuits, (otherwise known as cookies in America). Well, the other day we were entirely out of biscuits but it was most definitely a biscuit needing day. I was also out of most ingredients to make anything sweet. I had the fixin’s for pie, but that’s so much time and work and besides, they only really like the crust. So I figured, why bother with the work of all the other part and I made pie crust biscuits!

My husband said I was nuts. “You can’t do that” I believe were his exact words. (Funny how he ate about a dozen of them when they were done!)

My recipe is an adaptation of the one on the foodnewtork’s site. Their advice on how to roll out the perfect crust works really well, and I have taken it a step further.

Here is my recipe and technique:

• 8Tbsp. butter, frozen
• 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling dough
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 cup ice water

Hetta eating pie crust biscuit

In large mixing bowl combine flour and salt. I grate frozen butter into my flour with a cheese grater, instead of cutting it in. This cuts the time in half, instantly makes those “pea sized” pieces the recipes always call for, and keeps the ingredients icy cold, which is the key to flaky crust.

Then, splash water over this mixture a little at a time and mix with a wooden spoon until this method doesn’t work anymore, then use your hands. Handle as little as possible. Squeeze together until it forms a ball, and then press into a rounded disk and refrigerate for 30 minutes (I never do this part, btw, and it always comes out fine.

rolling baggie

I have a large 2 gallon size Ziploc baggy that I cut down three sides (cutting the zipper part off completely). Then I traced my pie dish on the outside with a sharpie. I keep this to roll out pie dough. It works wonderfully and I always know how big to roll out the crust (slightly larger than the circle). I wash it with dish soap and hang it to dry and keep it in the drawer with my pie pans. It certainly cuts down on my rolling time, and makes it easier for my 9 year old daughter to roll out the crusts too!

Rowan eating pie crust biscuit

Open up your pie rolling baggie, sprinkle flour, then roll out your dough between the two sides of the bag. Open the bag from time to time to sprinkle more flour as needed. You will find you need less flour than you normally would, because the plastic allows everything to slide better. It also helps if you dampen your rolling surface first, so the bag doesn’t slip around. Roll about 1/4″ thick, cut with cookie cutters, then bake for about 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown on the edges.

almost all gone

These were delicious with a little jam spread on them. And were all gone in minutes!

Ari signing "more"