lemon poppy biscuits

These poppy specked ultra-light and flaky biscuits have been on my "to-make" list for months now. I found this recipe from Food & Wine a couple years ago featuring buttermilk biscuits and this was one of the variations. With buttermilk biscuits like this it seems the possibilities are endless, original, savory, sweet...etc.

I grew up eating homemade buttermilk biscuits. I remember many days I would get home and have a couple as my afternoon snack. My dad showed me how to make honey butter (mixing honey and butter together - it seemed novel at the time), and my mom kept a fresh batch around almost always. There are stories that we went through dozens of these pillows of dough at one point. I won't comment on that.

For the lemon-poppy variation, follow the recipe at the link above and whisk 1/4 cup sugar in with the dry ingredients. Then stir in the grated zest of 1 lemon and 1 tablespoon of poppy seeds just before adding the buttermilk. Finally, just before baking sprinkle with sugar.

(photography by: alison clayshulte)