Cheap Eats: The Biscuit Edition

The Topic: The Art of Biscuitry

The Dish: The general equation for eating on the cheap is simple: groceries plus kitchen equals affordable food. Due to my inherently lazy nature and string of excuses—

"It's too early to cook. I'm tired."

"It's too late to cook. I'm tired."

"It's the weekend! I want a burrito."

—sometimes it can be difficult for me to motivate and make the most of my dollars and pantry. Enter: The Biscuit. This five-ingredient beauty has gotten me through some tough times, including a post-college stint in Arkansas in which my sister and I subsisted mainly on their floury goodness.

They make regular appearances during my lunch shifts at the VNHQ, and for a few good reasons:

1. They’re cheap. Using the most basic baking ingredients, a double-batch helps feed a famished staff and is super affordable, clocking in at a couple bucks.
2. They’re easy, using only five common pantry ingredients. If you never bake and don’t buy flour on the regular, stocking up won’t set you back much, and it promises future batches.
3. They’re customizable. From the basic recipe, you can go anywhere with add-ins—sweet, savory, spiced—and it’s incredibly friendly to ingredient substitutions.

These have impressed everyone from homemade-bread aficionados to biscuits ‘n’ gravy-loving omnivores, and they take literally minutes to make from mixing bowl to mouth. The recipe is so simple that I have it committed to memory, and it’ll be no time before you do, too. If you’re baking for a crowd or planning for the week ahead, I recommend doubling the recipe.

Abby's Cheap-Ass Biscuits

Makes 9 small or 6 medium biscuits

What You Need:

1-2/3 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup non-dairy milk

1/3 cup oil

What You Do:

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add milk and oil, and mix until just combined.
2. With a 1/4-cup measuring cup, ice-cream scoop, or your clean hands, drop dough onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until bottoms are golden brown.
3. Top with non-hydrogenated margarine, syrup, jam, peanut butter, gravy, or anything else that you could possibly put on bread. Devour!

The Final Word: Like I said, this recipe can be taken in many directions. Feel free to experiment with different kinds of flours, oils, and milks (I love olive oil and almond milk), and add-ins are the best: garlic, fresh herbs, vegan cheese (1 cup of shredded cheese and a few cloves of garlic make the best cheese biscuits ever!), oats and raisins, etc. You can even skip the oven and throw spoonfuls in the skillet if you don’t want to heat up the house. I could go on forever. Can you tell how much I love these freaking biscuits? Go crazy with your imagination—or whatever you have on hand—and enjoy!