The wonderful thing about biscuits is that they pair well with almost every dish you can think of. You can serve them at breakfast, at lunch and and dinner – and you can even use them to make berry shortcakes for dessert. The even more wonderful thing about them is that they are quick and easy to make. But I have to say that no other biscuit recipe is as quick and easy to make as these Secret Ingredient Biscuits are.
Secret Ingredient Biscuits are fluffy, tender biscuits that get their name because they are made with an unusual ingredient: mayonnaise. The mayonnaise actually replaces butter (or other fats) that you would typically put into biscuit dough. It works because mayonnaise made with eggs and oil – two fat sources that are often used in biscuits.
I first saw this recipe in an issue of Cook’s Country (Mar/Apr 2013) and knew that I had to try them. Not only did they sound delicious, but the ingredient list was short and biscuits required virtually no prep time. It literally took less than 5 minutes to measure and mix the dough, then get the biscuits in the oven (which I had preheated). They were delicious, with a slightly savory quality from the mayonnaise that made them addictive – especially when they were served with a little bit of butter while they were still warm.
If you’re not a big mayonnaise fan, don’t worry: the biscuits don’t have a strong mayonnaise flavor and you probably wouldn’t know they were made with mayo. I did end up cutting back the amount of salt in the original recipe very slightly as my first batch turned out a touch salty, possibly because of the brand of mayonnaise that I was using – Best Foods, in this case. This is an easy recipe that everyone should be able to put together easily on short notice, and that means that it will be making a few more appearances in my house in the near future!
Cook’s Country calls for these biscuits to be made with full fat mayonnaise and whole milk, since it is the fat from these two items that tenderizes the biscuits and gives them their great texture. You can get away with using reduced fat versions of the two, but your biscuits may loose a bit of their tenderness. Fat free mayo and skim milk aren’t going to give you a good result here, so don’t use those if you want great biscuits.
Secret Ingredient Biscuits
from Cook’s Country
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk (not non-fat)
3/4 cup mayonnaise (not “fat free”)
Preheat oven to 450F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a small bowl, whisk together milk and mayonnaise until smooth. Pour into dry ingredients and stir until no streaks of flour remain. Dough will be sticky.
Lightly grease a 1/4-cup measure or an ice cream scoop and scoop balls of dough onto prepared baking sheet. You may need to re-grease your spoon.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, until biscuits are golden. Allow to cool slightly before serving.
Makes 12.