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Dessert

South Carolina Biscuit

Sweet biscuit that keeps for weeks in a dry place and is suitable for traveling lunch.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Women of the First Congregational Church (Marysville, Ohio) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

South Carolina Biscuit

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. Combine one quart sweet cream or milk, one and a half cups butter or fresh lard, two tablespoons white sugar, and one good teaspoon salt.

  2. Add flour sufficient to make a stiff dough.

Shape and bake

  1. Knead well and mould into neat, small biscuits with the hands, as our grandmothers used to do.

  2. Add one good teaspoon cream tartar if preferred, then bake well.

  3. The result is a good sweet biscuit that will keep for weeks in a dry place and is very nice for traveling lunch.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

202Calories
0 gProtein
17 gFat
13 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Women of the First Congregational Church (Marysville, Ohio). Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sweet cream
Adds moisture and richness to the dough.
Butter
Adds fat that keeps the biscuits tender and rich.
White sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the biscuits brown lightly.

The step that matters

Knead well. Kneading develops gluten in the stiff dough, giving the biscuits a firm, sturdy structure. Kneading too little leaves the dough crumbly and weak, so the shaped biscuits may not hold together well in the oven.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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