If You Have Sour Cream, You Have The Start Of Buttery Biscuits Ready In 20 Minutes

When you think of a rich, satisfying breakfast or classic Southern dish, the plate is often simply not complete without a buttery biscuit. While it may seem intimidating to make scratch-made biscuits, making them fresh at home is a rewarding effort. And buttery biscuits are actually surprisingly easy to make with just a few ingredients, including sour cream. Sour cream, mixed with self-rising flour and butter, is really all you need for the softest and flakiest biscuits at home, and they're out of the oven in just about 20 minutes. 

The ingredient list in a sour cream biscuit recipe may be short, but it's a powerful baking lineup. Self-rising flour (which typically contains leavening agents and salt) provides the glutinous base and lift for the biscuits. Then you just cut tiny pieces of butter in to incorporate with the dough. Just like when making pie crust, butter adds flaky layers and brings major flavor. Finally, there's the sour cream. While some use buttermilk for 3-ingredient drop biscuits, sour cream works in a similar way, adding fat and moisture to the biscuits, as well as a slightly tangy flavor and notable tenderness. The acidity of sour cream also helps the biscuits rise when combined with the baking soda in self-rising flour (or added separately to the batter).

Beyond their simple ingredient makeup, the beauty of a buttery biscuit made with sour cream is that it bakes in about 20 minutes. All you need to do is mix the ingredients together as mentioned. Once combined, you'll have biscuit batter that's ready to drop onto a lined baking pan (or straight into muffin tins) in hearty spoonfuls, before baking in the oven at around 375 to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. That's pretty much all there is to making flavorful sour cream drop biscuits at home, even if the finished product tastes like you've been in the kitchen for hours.

While the preparation is relatively easy, you can also adjust the recipe to up the flavor and make creative biscuit variations. For instance, add chopped chives for aromatic depth and vibrant green flecks. Add garlic powder with the flour mixture for more flavor, or fold in cheese to the batter for some extra gooey richness. Just try not to over-mix or overwork the dough as you add in any additional ingredients with your flour mixture, so everything stays nice and tender. As for ingredient substitutions, you can use lower-fat sour cream in a pinch. However, full-fat sour cream will bring the most flavor and tenderness. And of course, if you don't have self-rising flour, you can add in baking soda or other substitutes with salt and all-purpose flour.