Pumpkin Biscuits

Pumpkin and/or cranberries make an appearance in just about every meal I make this time of year. I needed a biscuit to go with grits and bacon for a lazy Saturday morning, so these pumpkin biscuits were perfect.

The dough is quite moist, so the key to keeping the biscuits flaky is a light hand with the flour and gentle kneading.

I was so eager to eat these I only managed an iPhone photo. The recipe yielded a tender, flaky biscuit, slightly sweet from the brown sugar and scented softly with a hint of pumpkin pie spices. With the salty bacon, they were magnificent.

Pumpkin Biscuits

1-3/4 cups unbleached flour, plus additional for rolling
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup cold salted butter
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425°.

Whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Cut in 1/2 cup butter until coarse crumbs form. Combine pumpkin and buttermilk in separate bowl; stir into flour mixture just until moistened.

Scrape dough onto lightly floured surface and knead gently 3 or 4 times, sprinkling on a tiny bit of flour to keep from sticking. Pat or roll to 1-inch thickness and cut with floured biscuit cutter. Place 1 inch apart on baking sheet.

Bake 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes about a dozen. Yield depends on size of biscuit cutter. I got 11 using a 2-1/2 inch cutter.