Uncle Hal’s Biscuits

Homemade biscuits, cut in rounds or baked as a loaf, are delightfully plain fare; a tasty, filling and well appreciated comfort food that is a joy to share with family and friends. Serve them as Uncle Hal did, with Karo Syrup, for a 1916-style dessert. Or dress them with a smear of good butter, honey and fruit jam, anytime.

One of Uncle Hal's Biscuits Split and served on a plate with a smear of butter and drizzled with Karo syrup.

Learning to make Biscuits…

My great great uncle Hal was a wonderful storyteller. Though his formal education was sparse, he was well read and wrote with a broad vocabulary in a neat cursive hand. His handwritten one hundred and sixty two page memoir beautifully recounts his experiences in the early 20th century.

Uncle Hal was not only a fine writer but a cook of some merit, when the need arose. One story he shared in his memoirs described his duties as cook on the farm he rented with a friend as a young man in Minnesota around 1916:

On the Farm

It was agreed beforehand that I was to be cook and housekeeper and Mrs. Clark taught me how to make biscuits the quick and easy way – I already knew how to boil beans and potatoes. Mrs. Clark rolled her dough and used a biscuit cutter, but my method was much simpler and more direct. When my dough was thoroughly mixed I dumped it into a bread pan, leveled it off a bit and put it in the oven to bake. And since it is never good to cut hot bread with a knife I would put it on the table just as it came from the pan and we could break off any size piece we needed. I baked a pan of the stuff every evening for supper and there was always enough left for the next two meals. 

In addition to my homemade loaf we lived mostly on beans, potatoes, oatmeal, eggs and milk. Meat was hard to handle since we had no refrigeration and went to town only on Saturday night. For dessert we poured out a plate full of Karo syrup and mopped it up with bread or biscuit, whatever it was. If the Karo company paid extra dividends in 1916 and 1917 it was due largely to our patronage. I love biscuit and syrup to this day…

~ from Uncle Hal’s Memoirs
Uncle Hal's Biscuit Loaf on a pewter plate.

A Few Years Later

I remember eating Karo pancake syrup as a child. Aunt Hen always bought Mrs. Butterworth’s but my Dad was a thrifty shopper and not swayed by branding. Karo was inexpensive and tasted good. It was as practical for a family watching their food budget in the mid-twentieth century as it was for a young man living in lean times fifty or more years before.

So, here’s to Uncle Hal – a plate of delicious homemade biscuits, cut in rounds, squares or baked as a loaf, smeared with good butter and drizzled with Karo syrup. Or, if you prefer to forgo the Karo, try smothering them in maple syrup, honey or Apple and Peach Butter. No matter how you serve them, homemade biscuits are delightfully plain fare. They are a tasty, filling and well appreciated comfort food that is a joy to share with family and friends.

Uncle Hal’s Biscuits

Course: Bread, Breakfast, DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy
Servings

12

Biscuits
Prep time

10

minutes
Cooking time

15

minutes
Total time

25

minutes

Homemade biscuits, cut in rounds or baked as a loaf, are delightfully plain fare that is a joy to share with family and friends. Serve with a smear of good butter, honey and fruit jam.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups flour

  • 1 Tablespoon baking powder

  • 1 teaspoon salt

  • 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

  • 1 cup milk

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 425F.
  • In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the milk and mix until the dough holds together.
  • Turn dough onto a floured board and knead lightly. Roll dough into a rectangle. Fold it in half and roll to a 1/2-inch thickness. Cut into two to three-inch rounds or squares with the top of a glass or other cutter.
  • Place with sides touching on a baking sheet.
  • Bake at 425F for 12 – 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
  • Serve warm with butter, jam, honey or syrup.

Notes

  • Recipe Source: adapted from “Get-A-Jump-On-The-Day Biscuits” in The Courier-Journal Kentucky Cookbook
  • To make a Biscuit Loaf: Increase amount of milk used to 1 1/3 cups. When milk is stirred in and the dough holds together, turn the the dough into a greased loaf pan and bake at 425F until golden brown, approximately 30 minutes.

“Break off any size piece you need.”

Enjoy!

5 Comments

  1. syrup on biscuits? what a great idea! i'll be trying that with a large chunk of my own. 🙂

  2. theUngourmet

    I love reading stories like this one. Baking up the biscuits in a loaf is such a great idea. I grew up with Karo syrup too. 🙂

  3. Absolutely lovely post. It made me smile and remember my Father. Sounds like he and your Uncle Hal would have had a lot in common.

  4. Kathy Walker

    I could do with a large hunk right about now.

  5. Oh wow! My stomach is growling looking at this. I want me a piece of that right now! Great story too!

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