I love biscuits.

Actually, I have a deep-rooted love of most bread but biscuits, especially properly made, southern style biscuits are especially dear to my heart.

Biscuits from a can are fine. But that’s about as far as it goes. Just fine.

I’m telling you, if you’ve never had a properly made biscuit, you need to put that at the top of your to-do list because once you have one, you’ll throw rocks at those canned biscuits.

I’m not exactly sure what that means but my Dad always says it. Must be a southern thing. Or maybe he just likes to throw rocks. You can never be to sure with him.

Biscuit making isn’t hard. The ingredients are simple and the process is fairly simple as well.

But for some reason, no one does biscuits like southerners do biscuits.

If you grew up in the south, or were ever lucky enough to watch someone who really knew what they were doing, you know what I mean. This last statement usually applies to our Grandmothers or Great Aunts who can make biscuits without measuring or using fancy equipment and while doing ten other things and having a totally unrelated conversation all at the same time.

It’s almost as if these women have biscuit making engrained in their DNA.

I might be particularly partial, having grown up in the south and coming from a long line of southern women, but I know good food – comfort food when I taste it and it’s just not the same whenever I’ve eaten outside of this region.

Are my biscuits perfect? Nope – they’re made with milk and butter instead of buttermilk and shortening – GASP!

But they’re darn good.

And they’d be even better with some fried chicken in between, maybe a little gravy, and a glass of sweet tea on the side.

Whisk together:

2 cups flour

2 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 tsp granulated sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp Italian seasoning

1/4 tsp garlic powder

few grinds of black pepper

Then fold in:

1 cup of sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (I used cheddar jack)

Then cut in:

1 stick of butter, cut into small pieces.

You can do this with a pastry cutter, two butter knives, or your hands. Just work the cold butter into the dough until it is the size of small peas and mixed in well to the dough.

Then add:

1 cup milk

Gently work into the dough. Be careful not to overwork it or the biscuits will be tough.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead 5-10 times, just until the dough is smooth and no longer crumbly.

At this point you can roll out the dough to about an inch or so thick, cut out biscuits, place onto a sheet pan, and bake at 450 for 10 minutes or until the tops are light golden brown.

I like to cut my biscuits with a sharp knife rather than a biscuit cutter. It’s much easier. But if you must have round biscuits, be sure to press straight down, do not twist or it will keep your biscuits from rising properly.

You can also brush the tops with melted butter just before the biscuits are done baking for extra buttery flavor.