Mama’s Buttermilk Biscuits — The Sunday Ritual That Holds Us Together

The week after the diagnosis, and the world continues with the indifference that the world brings to personal catastrophe. The library runs. The patrons come. The budget negotiations proceed. The azaleas bloom without regard for Alzheimer's or anything else. I am grateful for the indifference, because it gives me something to push against — the ordinary demands of work and family that refuse to accommodate grief and thereby force you to function, which is the first step toward surviving.

I have told Robert, James, and Carrie about the diagnosis. Robert received it with the quiet steadiness that is his best quality — the quality that survived the affair, the quality that built the bookshelves and the grab bars and Joy's room. He held my hand and said, "We'll take care of her." James received it with the gravity of a young man who has just learned that the grandmother he loves is losing the ability to remember him. He went upstairs and was quiet for two hours, and when he came down he said, "I'm going to spend more time with her," and the promise was not a promise but a vow. Carrie received it with the directness that is her hallmark: "How long?" she asked, and I said, "Years. Possibly many years," and she said, "Then we have years to make memories she can keep for as long as she can keep them," and the sentence was so pragmatic and so compassionate that I had to leave the room.

Joy does not know about the diagnosis, and we have decided not to tell her, because Joy processes information in her own way and the word "Alzheimer's" would be a stone in a river that does not need stones. Joy knows that Mama sometimes forgets things. Joy forgets things too. In Joy's world, forgetting is normal, and the normalcy is a gift that the rest of us cannot access.

I made buttermilk biscuits on Sunday — the ritual, the rhythm, the cold butter and hot oven and fast hands. Mama watched from the table and said, "Your hands are faster than mine now," and I said, "I had a good teacher," and she said, "You had the best teacher," and the superlative was not vanity but fact, and we both knew it, and the knowing was its own kind of medicine.

So here is the recipe — Mama’s biscuits, the ones she taught me to make with cold butter and fast hands, the ones I made on Sunday while she watched from the table and told me I had the best teacher. She was right. I am writing it down now because that is what you do when someone you love starts forgetting: you hold the things they gave you in a place where they cannot be lost. These biscuits are not complicated. They do not require precision or fuss. They require only that you show up on Sunday morning and do the work with your hands, which is enough.

Mama’s Buttermilk Biscuits

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 14 minutes | Total Time: 29 minutes | Servings: 10 biscuits

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, very cold and cut into small cubes
• 3/4 cup cold buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons melted butter, for brushing

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven. Set your oven to 450°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Whisk the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.
3. Cut in the butter. Add the cold butter cubes to the flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter or your fingertips, work the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal with pea-sized pieces of butter still visible. This is the part that matters — cold butter, fast hands. Do not overwork it.
4. Add the buttermilk. Make a well in the center and pour in the cold buttermilk. Stir with a fork just until the dough comes together. It will be shaggy and slightly sticky. Stop as soon as the flour is incorporated.
5. Fold the dough. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface. Gently pat it into a 1-inch-thick rectangle. Fold the dough in thirds like a letter, then pat it down to 1 inch thick again. Repeat this fold one more time. This is what gives you the layers.
6. Cut the biscuits. Pat the dough to a final thickness of about 3/4 inch. Using a 2-1/2 inch round biscuit cutter dipped in flour, cut straight down without twisting. Press the scraps together gently and cut remaining biscuits.
7. Arrange and bake. Place the biscuits on the prepared baking sheet so they are just touching — this helps them rise tall. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until the tops are golden brown.
8. Brush with butter. Remove from the oven and immediately brush the tops with melted butter. Serve warm.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 185 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 10g | Carbs: 21g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 390mg