By May. The month that used to be about Mama's garden and Mother's Day and the end of school. This year it's also about Derek, who texted me Tuesday to ask if I wanted to "do something that isn't coffee" on Saturday. I said yes. He said, "I was thinking dinner." Dinner. The upgrade from coffee. The beverage has changed and so has the intention, and I am thirty-seven years old and I feel like I'm twenty-two at Spelman, getting asked to dinner for the first time, except this time I know what a bad marriage looks like and I know what grief looks like and I know that a man who asks about your cooking and listens to the answer is worth at least one dinner.
I haven't told the kids about Derek. Not yet. It's too early. It's been five weeks of coffee dates and texts and one phone call that lasted two hours, during which we talked about everything from co-parenting to cornbread to whether pineapple belongs on pizza (he says yes; I say no; this may be an irreconcilable difference). The kids don't need to know about a man until the man is a person, and Derek is becoming a person but he's not confirmed yet. He's in the waiting room. The waiting room of Tamika's life is a crowded place.
Mother's Day is Sunday. The second one. Last year I cried. This year I expect to cry less, or differently, or both. The kids are planning something. I can hear them whispering in Jasmine's room with the volume of children who think whispering means "talking normally but in a different room." They think I don't know. I know. I always know. I am a school counselor. Secrets have a smell and my children reek of them.
Set the Table: we made Mother's Day brunch. The girls cooked for each other's mothers — each girl prepared a dish, invited her mother (or grandmother, or auntie, or whoever fills the mother-space), and served it. Diamond served her grandmother. Destiny served her mother. Tasha served her auntie. Monique served her foster mother, a woman named Mrs. Davis who sat at the table and cried when Monique put a plate of biscuits in front of her and said, "I made these for you." The room was full of women being fed by their daughters and the air tasted like flour and tears and the particular holiness of a kitchen where love is both the ingredient and the meal.
When Monique put that plate of biscuits in front of Mrs. Davis, I thought about what it means to feed someone on purpose — to choose a dish, follow the steps, and carry it to the table yourself. That’s the whole thing, really. That’s what I wanted for Set the Table, and that’s what I want for my own kids on Sunday morning. These cheesy garlic drop biscuits were what we built the brunch around: no special equipment, no complicated technique, just butter and cheese and the willingness to show up at the stove for somebody you love.
The Best Cheesy Garlic Drop Biscuits
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 14 minutes | Total Time: 24 minutes | Servings: 12 biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
- 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 3/4 cup whole milk or buttermilk
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (for topping)
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (for topping)
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, finely chopped (for topping)
Instructions
- Preheat. Preheat your oven to 450°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Mix dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and cayenne (if using) until evenly combined.
- Cut in the butter. Add the cold cubed butter to the flour mixture. Using your fingertips or a pastry cutter, work the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some pea-sized pieces remaining — this is what makes them flaky.
- Add cheese and milk. Stir in the shredded cheddar. Pour in the milk and stir gently with a fork just until the dough comes together. Do not overmix — a few lumps are fine.
- Drop the biscuits. Using a large spoon or a 1/4-cup scoop, drop mounds of dough onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart. You should get about 12 biscuits.
- Bake. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Make the garlic butter topping. While the biscuits bake, stir together the melted butter, garlic powder, and parsley in a small bowl.
- Brush and serve. As soon as the biscuits come out of the oven, brush the tops generously with the garlic butter. Serve warm.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 195 | Protein: 5g | Fat: 12g | Carbs: 18g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 210mg