I don't typically like biscuits, but these were perfectly fluffy and had a nice sweet and salty balance. Wes dipped his in honey too, which was tasty, but I liked them plain.
Mile High Buttermilk Biscuits from Nook & Pantry, originally from Cook's Illustrated
Yield: Makes 12 biscuits
INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
Additional flour
2 tbsp melted butter
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 500ºF. Grease a 9-inch springform pan.
Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt to a bowl and mix the ingredients together evenly. Using a fork, cut in the butter until the pieces are no bigger than a small pea. Fold in the buttermilk until everything is just blended, and there are no streaks of flour remain. Do not overmix, the mixture should still be lumpy.
Line a plate with some flour and using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop out balls of the dough onto the tray of flour. Flour your hands and roll each ball around in the flour to evenly coat them in a layer of flour. The dough is very wet and very sticky. Place the dough balls into the prepared pan. Place 9 balls around in a ring and 3 balls in the center of the pan. Brush the tops of the biscuits with melted butter.
Bake for 5 minutes at 500ºF (middle rack) and then lower the temperature to 450ºF and bake for another 15 minutes.