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Grapefruit Biscuits

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Mmm… citrus, butter, sugar – a lovely combination.

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Why choose this biscuit recipe?

My mother gave me a bunch of grapefruit! I remembered seeing the Grapefruit Biscuits recipe and figured it was now or never….

Where did this biscuit recipe come from?

I originally saw a recipe for Grapefruit Biscuits while browsing at The Southern Festival of books in Nashville – it was in Farm Fresh Southern Cooking. That recipe uses grapefruit juice instead of buttermilk. I love grapefruit and made a note to look them up again later. This is the recipe I found when I Googled. I went with the second one because it called for both grapefruit zest and juice. I think you need both to actually get the grapefruit flavor.
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What is Persnickety about this biscuit recipe?

I do not understand all of the chemistry of cooking but believe that the grapefruit juice provides the acid normally provided by the buttermilk to interact with the baking powder, allowing the biscuits to rise.

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Grapefruit Zest and Sugar

Also, while I used butter in this recipe, you could easily substitute vegetable shortening and make these vegan.

Grapefruit Biscuit

So how was the biscuit?

When I made these, I ate a biscuit straight from the oven (of course!). It was lovely. Fluffy, moist, slightly sweet. But I could not taste the grapefruit at all. I was kind of disappointed by that. The next day I toasted one and found that there was a very light citrus flavor. It was quite nice. I wonder if the flavor intensifies over time, but they did not last long enough for me to be sure!

What would you do differently next time?
More grapefruit zest! If I’m going to put grapefruit into a biscuit, I’d like to taste it.

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Chemo and Biscuits

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When I was being treated for breast cancer a couple of years ago, chemotherapy did a number on my taste buds. It was like having bad “cotton mouth” for weeks on end. But I still had an appetite of sorts, because they give you really good medicines to counteract potential nausea. Food still smells good, but then you taste it and . . .ugh. Not so good. For whatever reason, I found that I craved biscuits. Not fresh baked biscuits, but the toasted leftovers.

Toasted Biscuits

I remember when I was a little girl my mother used to buy these par-baked biscuits. They came in a little rectangular pan and were small. Maybe 1 ½ inches square. Mom would heat them up for breakfast. At the next meal, she would toast the leftovers, splitting them in half and putting a little pat of butter on top before they went into the oven. They would come out all crispy and golden and buttery. Wonderful.

Marshall's Buttermilk Biscuits

Marshall’s Buttermilk Biscuits

THEN, the leftovers from toasting would go into a baggie and we would eat those at room temperature later. Now, I don’t know why any biscuits would have lasted long enough to go into that bag. You would think with a family of five, a tray of biscuits would disappear in a heartbeat. I don’t know. But I do know that the leftovers in the baggie were my favorite. They had a crispy, buttery, salty crust, with tender biscuit inside. They kind of crumbled in my mouth with a texture that is different from any other kind of bread or cracker.

Marshall's Buttermilk Biscuits

I don’t think the packaging has changed a bit!

When I began to crave biscuits during chemo, it was for those toasted ones. I found them at the East Nashville Piggly Wiggly, which has become my favorite spot for frozen biscuits.

I know biscuits are not the healthiest food for someone fighting cancer. I do. But I figured that since I was going through chemo I could make some allowances. Besides, I still did not have a great appetite. When I found something I wanted to eat, I did not judge.

More Toasty Goodness

More Toasty Goodness

Want to make your own shards of buttery toasted biscuity goodness? Just split any biscuit in half, spread a generous dollop of butter or margarine on top, and bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes.