Sandy's Sweet Glenn Biscuits

by Sandy Young
(Cerrillos, NM)

First the Plain Recipe (thanks to Gini for editing), then the fun history (with great Sandy Comments and the more complex recipe)!!!

You can use canned biscuits if you want, or a packaged biscuit mix, but these home made ones are easy and delicious too!

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2 cups self-rising flour (if using all purpose flour, add 2 1/2 t. baking powder and 1/2 t. salt)

1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (In the mountains use 1/4; in the flatlands, use 1/2)

½ tsp salt

5 tablespoons Crisco

1 – 1 1/4 cups buttermilk (1 cup in the flatlands; 1 1/4 cups in the mountains)

One stick soft butter

Brown sugar

Cinnamon

pecans


Mix glaze and set aside: 3 Tbls milk and ½ t vanilla and 1 ½ cups powered sugar (add more milk if needed to achieve easy consistency.)

Sift 2 cups of flour with baking soda. Cut in shortening. Add buttermilk, and stir with a fork. Turn out on well-floured board; knead a few times; and roll out to a rectangle approximately 1/4 inch thick.


Spread one stick of very soft butter over rolled out dough. Then put as much brown sugar as you want on it. Just be sure to cover the whole surface. Last, sprinkle cinnamon over the brown sugar.

Roll up dough jelly-roll style: Start at the back of the long side of the rectangle, and roll toward you. In order not to get too frustrated with the rolling, just be sure to have lots of flour on the board and flour handy to dip your hands into as you roll.

Cut pinwheels into ½ to ¾ inch slices and place on a cookie sheet. Put generous amount of pecans on top. Top with glaze.


Bake at 400-425 for 12-15 minutes.

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First, you need some history. My initial experience with these delicious biscuits was in August 1962, the summer when Frank took his bride (that’s me) to Fall City to meet his family. We had been married since December 17, 1961 in Pensacola; however, not many of the family could travel that far.

Sometime during our stay of a week or so, Grandma made sweet biscuits for breakfast. I watched carefully, thinking to myself, “I can do that.” And I did. Shortly after we returned to Clinton, MS, where we were finishing up our college years, I began to experiment with the “recipe.” I use quotation marks because I never had an official recipe. You know how Grandma cooked . . . a little of this and a little of that and Voila! something very good was the result!

Anyway . . . here’s what I learned from my mother-in-law. I don’t know how she made biscuits, but I have my own recipe, which I’ll include for you. Any recipe will do; in fact, Bisquick would probably be fine. I make mine with self-rising flour, Crisco, and buttermilk, perhaps none of which are in your kitchen; so . . . if you want to make biscuits the way Aunt Sandy does, you’ll have to go shopping!

Buttermilk Biscuits

2 cups self-rising flour
1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (In the mountains, I use 1/4; in the flatlands, I use 1/2)
5 tablespoons Crisco (Loretta Lynn and I wouldn’t use any other brand!)
1 – 1 1/4 cups buttermilk (1 cup in the flatlands; 1 1/4 cups in the mountains)

I’m not very careful in putting everything together. I just dip out 2 cups of flour, not leveled, and put in sifter. Then put baking powder in and sift. Again, with the shortening, I’m not too careful . . . just approximately 5 T. I’m also not very sanitary, I’m afraid, though I do wash my hands before putting them in the flour and shortening. I suppose you could use a fork or one of those fancy utensils made especially for combining flour and shortening, but I just use my hands to combine. Add buttermilk, and stir with a fork. Turn out on well-floured board; knead a few times; and roll out to a rectangle maybe 1/4 inch thick. Hope this makes sense.

Back to the Glenn Biscuits! After you roll out the dough to a rectangle, spread one stick of very much softened butter over it. Then put as much brown sugar as you want on it. Just be sure to cover the whole surface. Last, sprinkle cinnamon over the brown sugar. Honestly, you can use as much sugar and cinnamon as you want to. I use a lot! Next you need chopped nuts of some sort. I think Grandma used walnuts; she was allergic to pecans. However, since I’m a true Southern Belle, I use only pecans. Grandma sprinkled the nuts over the dough and then rolled the dough up jelly-roll style: Start at the back of the long side of the rectangle, and roll toward you. I forgot to put the nuts on before rolling one time a couple of years ago and found that I preferred putting them on top of the biscuits after placing them on the pan. Much easier to roll the dough! In order not to get too frustrated with the rolling, just be sure to have lots of flour on the board and flour handy to dip your hands into as you roll.

Years ago, I found something really neat that has been a lifesaver for me in baking cookies and Glenn Biscuits: a Silpat sheet. Do you have one? It won’t let anything stick to a cookie sheet. Bought it at Linens ‘n’ Things or Bed, Bath, and Beyond . . . can’t remember exactly where.

Frank likes the biscuits best if I make a powdered sugar/milk “frosting.” Sift some powdered sugar (about 1 1/2 cups will do) and add a little milk (start with about 3 tablespoons). Stir together. It should be of a consistency to just drizzle over the biscuits as soon as you take them from the oven. Truly the “icing on the cake”!

I think you remember that the sweet biscuits became Glenn Biscuits because of Glenn Hilleman, one of our Bible Study members. He usually eats three or four of them before anyone else can get to the table after we finish studying and discussing. I do hope this makes sense.



Hope your family enjoys these as much as mine does.