Baking Powder Biscuits

Hot Baking Powder Biscuits and Fresh Wild Black Raspberry Jam!

What a Combination!

When we moved to the country, we discovered the fun of finding wild black raspberries.

They were free and most summers plentiful.

I would get the family up at the crack of dawn to go as a group to pick them.We were armed with coffee cans that had strings attached. The cans could hang around our necks so we could pick with both hands.

We wore long sleeves and blue jeans to avoid the sharp thorns on the stems of the wild black raspberries.

The dogs would come with us and pick the ripe berries off the lower branches. This fact did not always sit well with my children for we all had to fill at least one coffee can before stopping and the dogs could reach the same height as the smallest child.

"Why can't the dogs eat the unripe berries?" they would ask.

But in the end the taste was worth all the trouble.

After we had filled our cans, we returned home with raspberry juice on our faces and hands. We then quickly sorted over the berries and made black raspberry jam.

The reward for supper that night was to have only baking powder biscuits that we covered with butter and fresh black raspberry jam.Everyone could have as many as they could eat.

What a delicious treat!

The biscuits were served right from the oven and wrapped in a cloth napkin to stay warm. Biscuits must be Hot!

The recipe that I almost always used for hot biscuits is from my Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book. I still have it. It is the second edition from 1956.

And I still use it.

Typical Biscuits

Sift together:

• 2 cups sifted Gold Medal Flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt

Cut in finely : 1/4 cup shortening

Stir in to make a soft dough: 3/4 cup milk

Round up on lightly floured cloth-covered board. Knead lightly (about 30 sec). Roll or pat out about 1/2" thick. Cut out with round 1 3/4" biscuit cutter or glass.

Place on un-greased baking sheet. Bake until golden brown.

10 - 12 minutes.