These Cat Head Biscuits may hands down be my favorite biscuits. Light, pillowy biscuits like fluffy clouds. NOT like the dark, heavy rain clouds we have today. Unfortunately it is those clouds that my biscuits sometimes resemble.
But not these biscuits. No sir-ee. The exterior gets a wonderful brown and is a nice contrast to the tender and soft interiors.
Why Are They Called Cat Head Biscuits?
Cat Head Biscuits are so named because they are as big as a cat’s head. This is another one of my favorite recipes from America’s Test Kitchen. Normally southern biscuits are made with a low protein flour such as White Lily or Martha White. Because of the lower protein content than a regular all-purpose flour, these flours produce extra light and tender biscuits. Or so the theory goes. Doesn’t always work for me.
All-Purpose Flour Plus Cake Flour
But you don’t need that type of flour for this recipe. Instead you can use a combination of regular all-purpose flour such as Pillsbury with a cake flour to get the same effect.
Butter Plus Shortening
A combination of butter and shortening worked into the flour makes biscuits that are buttery in taste but with a tender texture. Because it is fluffiness you are after, not flakiness, there’s no need to chill the fat before hand.
Sticky Dough
The dough will be sticky and wet and that’s perfectly alright because there is no need to knead (no pun intended) this dough. All you have to do is stir the dough just until it comes together and then scoop it in mounds into a cake pan. Couldn’t be easier.
These biscuits taste just like heaven and are worthy of a special occasion or an everyday meal.
How To Store
These biscuits are best eaten while still warm from the oven but they can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days. Reheat for about 5 minutes in a 325 F degree oven.
More Biscuit Recipes
- Callie’s Buttermilk Biscuits
- Cinnamon Sugar Drop Biscuits
- Brown Sugar Bacon Biscuits
- Red Lobster Biscuits
- Bacon Cheddar Biscuits
- Sweet Little Biscuits
- Jalapeno Cheddar Biscuits
- Angel Biscuits
- 3-Ingredient Buttermilk Biscuits
Cat Head Biscuits
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups cake flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter,, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and softened
- 4 tablespoons vegetable shortening,, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
Instructions
- Place oven rack in upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Grease a 9-inch cake pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Scatter pieces of butter and shortening across top of flour mixture and use your fingers to rub the butter and shortening into the flour until it resembles coarse meal.
- Stir in buttermilk until combined.
- Spray a 1/2-cup measuring cup with cooking spray and scoop and drop 6 heaping mounds of dough into prepared cake pan. Place one in the center and the remaining in a circle surrounding the center one.
- Bake until golden brown on top, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Originally posted April 18, 2014.
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This has become my favorite biscuit recipe!
We quite liked these, but despite following the recipe as closely as possible our biscuits were a little bit undercooked and pasty in the center. We baked them for 28 minutes in a Bosch convection oven in a 9 inch (3 in tall) round Fat Daddio can pan. The tops were browning so we covered them with heavy duty foil for the last 5-7 minutes of the bake. What do you think we should do differently next time? I suspect the issue is our convection oven which automatically drops the temp in convection mode.
Made these this morning & they had a beautiful rise, turned out exactly like your photo. My older son thought they were perfect, especially loaded with sausage gravy 😉 They’re so big & very filling, next time half of one will be plenty for me. Looking forward to having it slathered with butter & homemade blackberry jam. Thanks for sharing the recipe, it’s definitely a keeper!
In my family ,(WV), we called them cat head biscuits because my Granny McCoy, born in 1895, made them in a cast iron skillet and they came out shaped like a cat’s head. She would melt lard in the skillet, flop each biscuit over in it, put it in the oven and take out the best buttermilk biscuits ever because of the crispy crust on the bottom. They really stand up to gravy! My mother, born in 1925, did the same thing but with melted Crisco. (a southern staple back then). Lordy, I’m hungry! 🌷
These biscuits are so easy to make!
Perfect with crumbled bacon and milk gravy…a true southern breakfast
what type of Martha white flour is needed… all-purpose or self rising??… want to make…
The all-purpose on.
Can I make these a day ahead of time?
You can but they are much better fresh.
These are fabulous. All I would do differently is up the salt to 1 1/2 teaspoons. I thought a bit more salt would up the flavor just a tad. The crust is superb and the inside amazingly tender.
Glad you liked them Meg and thanks for the suggestion to increase the salt amount. 🙂
These biscuits look really soft and.. addictive 🙂
That’s the perfect way to describe them. Hope you are having a wonderful week Medeja! I can’t wait to try your Chocolate Avocado Pancakes 🙂