Make Ahead

Cream Biscuits

December  7, 2010
4.3
15 Ratings
Photo by James Ransom
  • Prep time 10 minutes
  • Cook time 15 minutes
  • Makes 8 biscuits
Author Notes

These biscuits have been a staple in our household for years. In The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Marion Cunningham writes that she learned to make them at one of James Beard’s summer cooking classes in Seaside, Oregon. Instead of buttermilk or regular milk, the recipe calls for heavy cream, which makes for a super simple mixing process and ensures tender biscuits every time. A note to those anticipating the savory tang of a traditional buttermilk biscuit -- these are more like a rich, savory scone. —Merrill Stubbs

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon sugar 
  • 1 to 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
  • Melted butter
Directions
  1. Heat the oven to 425°F. Combine the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar in a mixing bowl, stirring with a fork to blend.
  2. Slowly add the cream to the dry ingredients, stirring constantly, until the dough holds together. Knead gently on a lightly floured surface for about 1 minute. Pat it into 1/2-inch thick round and use a sharp knife to it cut into 8 wedges.
  3. Arrange the wedges 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet and brush the tops of the biscuits with melted butter. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until lightly browned. Serve warm with plenty of butter and/or honey.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • betty888
    betty888
  • Reed Keyes
    Reed Keyes
  • Rachel Christensen
    Rachel Christensen
  • Hiromi Motojima
    Hiromi Motojima
  • lastnightsdinner
    lastnightsdinner

42 Reviews

Rebecca H. November 15, 2022
This is the recipe I go to for making both strawberry shortcakes and for biscuits topping in Chicken Pot Pie. I omit the melted butter when making pot pie biscuit topping. But, it is the ultimate comfort food when cooking for someone who's recovering from illness or surgery and every time I make it, the family I've made it for tell me it's the best chicken pie they've ever had. And it's always about the homemade biscuits on top!
 
Merrill S. November 16, 2022
Rebecca, thank you for sharing. What a great idea!
 
betty888 December 8, 2019
I was craving biscuits on this cold Sunday morning. These came together in a flash and are so delicious!
 
Renée R. January 13, 2018
I woke up this morning, ready for my weekend slice of toast for breakfast. I always keep a homemade loaf of bread in the freezer. Well, with the holidays and all, somehow there was no bread. I was instantly depressed. Decided to peruse Food52 for biscuit recipes and happened upon this one. Made it exactly as written and OH MAMA!!! These are melt in your mouth perfection. Now that I'm sustained and satiated I can face taking down my Christmas decorations. Thank you, Merrill. Job well done!
 
LizCo77 November 27, 2016
These are so simple and so delicious, it's remarkable. I followed the recipe exactly. Thank you for making me look good on Thanksgiving!
 
Wanda B. June 23, 2016
Never mind on the butter.........I should have read the whole recipe...It's just for brushing on. Silly ME!!!
 
Wanda B. June 23, 2016
How much butter?
 
Reed K. March 4, 2016
will definitely be making, with the addition of currants (I love a cream current scone with some milky tea...)
 
Kerry G. October 18, 2015
...and 2nd time, I used 1.5c flour, and reduced salt by half as I only had 250 ml cream
 
Kerry G. October 11, 2015
Perfect! I made these because I needed to use up extra cream. Now I will be buying extra cream so that I need to make these ;-)
 
liz September 11, 2015
These look terrific. Could I use plain kefir instead of cream? It works great in pancakes etc.
 
Merrill S. September 11, 2015
I haven't tried it so I'm not sure how they'd turn out. Let me know if you do!
 
Rachel C. January 8, 2015
WOW i just made these today and they are fantastic. i immediately ate 2. into the freezer they go.
 
Hiromi M. December 21, 2014
I made this for our afternoon tea party and everyone just loved it! And this was the easiest and simplest thing I made for the party. I used tiny bit more than 1 cup of cream. But one of my friend suggested to use greek yogurt instead of half of the cream, so I may try that. Although that may make the biscuit a bit sour? Anyway, it is really good as is. I had it with strawberry jam and mascarpone cheese, and lemon curd I made for macarons.
 
lastnightsdinner December 16, 2014
This recipe is STILL my go-to for biscuits. I actually embellished it a bit recently, adding about 4 oz. of grated cheese (a parmesan/fontina/asiago blend), a little dry mustard, some snipped chives and lots of fresh black pepper (oh, and omitting the sugar). Used them to top a pot pie! So good!
 
Merrill S. December 16, 2014
That sounds amazing! I may have to make your version this weekend...
 
Marian B. December 16, 2014
Wow! Finally made these tonight (at midnight, restless, worried that my fancy local cream would turn soon) and they're amazing. I used probably 1 1/4 cups cream, and they're so light and soft and perfect with honey. Sprinkled some extra flaky salt on top for good measure. Thanks, Merrill!
 
Merrill S. December 16, 2014
Good call on the flaky salt!
 
Allison T. August 9, 2014
Looks wonderful! I do love a good cream biscuit. Thanks for sharing!
www.lashesanddashes.com
 
Blanca June 20, 2014
Can I make ahead this recipe and freeze it?
 
MegB January 24, 2014
Can't believe how easy and good these were!
 
Rose W. November 15, 2013
I made these for breakfast yesterday--so easy without having to cut in butter. Took 30 minutes including baking. I ate 4. I try not to eat so much white flour, but I will keep this as a go-to biscuit recipe.
 
threeks March 20, 2013
Sounds delish. How can I sub the baking powder due to a corn allergy?
 
Peony February 9, 2013
Quick and simple to make. We ate ours with cream cheese and three fruit jam. We will be enjoying these again - very good.
 
cririz December 27, 2012
Easy and so delicious. No cutting in butter!! Yippee!!
 
KarenO December 25, 2012
Made these for Xmas breakfast today for ham and egg biscuits. They were easy, which I loved and they were totally delicious, which we all loved. Thank you. This recipe is for sure a keeper.
 
Mlouise June 17, 2012
I know I haven't had coffee yet BUT how do eight wedges serve 12 ?????
 
Merrill S. June 17, 2012
Whoa, sorry about that! Guess I hadn't had my coffee either when I wrote this. Should say "Makes 8 large biscuits."
 
bmallorca June 13, 2012
I have some heavy cream that's gone sour. I was wondering if I could make these biscuits with it. What do you think?
 
bmallorca June 13, 2012
I mean, what are good things to do with soured heavy cream? Can I use it like buttermilk?
 
loubaby December 27, 2011
I will definitely try these; I made Paula Deen's recipe for Cream Biscuits a few weeks ago and they were good and similar to yours--she adds a little more sugar, a little less salt and some baking soda/less baking powder. She doesn't brush with butter before baking. I like the crisp brown edge you have on yours I see here...will see if a few changes makes a better biscuit. thanks for the recipe.
 
caroberts77 December 25, 2011
Made these for our Christmas dinner today, although I made a couple of changes. I added some rosemary and some cheddar cheese. I only had one of those small containers of cream so I had to add some additional milk. Even though we won't be eating dinner for another few hours, we had to sample these. They came out quite good and I'm having to defend them from advances by the hubby. Thanks!!!
 
mainecook61 December 3, 2011
A recipe almost identical to this one has long been associated with the great cookbook writer Marion Cunningham. A recipe for cream biscuits (a tsp. less sugar, a slightly different shaping technique) appears in her revision of the "Fannie Farmer Cookbook," her "Fannie Farmer Baking Book," and her lovely "Breakfast Book." In the latter, she generously credits James Beard with teaching her how to make them.
 
mainecook61 December 4, 2011
Ah, should have read the expanded head note---in which Merrill says exactly that.
 
EmilyC November 16, 2011
I'm commenting on these again because I love them so much. I made them again tonight (for about the tenth time!) and used 1/2 cup whole milk buttermilk and 1+ cup of heavy cream...they stayed really moist but had a delicious tang from the buttermilk. I so appreciate a recipe like this that's easy enough to be assembled during the work week. They're by far my favorite biscuits.
 
Merrill S. November 16, 2011
Love the idea of combining buttermilk and cream -- will have to try it!
 
francesk October 17, 2011
This is my new go-to biscuit recipe. It's easy, it's fast, it has precious few ingredience and the result is light, fluffy, and magnificient. They are so yummy, you can eat them as is without any butter or jam at all!
 
misschef October 4, 2011
Finally biscuit success! Light and fluffy. Tasty and so easy. This is a great recipe and I highly recommend it.
 
Corkage May 19, 2011
This is the first recipe I've taught my 3 year old. She calls is making babies, and at the end, she throws all the left over flour at me. :) I love these, they turn out perfect every time! Last weekend I layered them with chopped cherries in the middle as a treat. Thanks for an awesome recipe!
 
Louisa April 27, 2011
Are these similar to a scone?
 
EmilyC January 8, 2011
Wow -- these are good. I served them with roast chicken tonight. So easy to put together too. To avoid using more flour, I kneaded the dough on a sheet of wax paper, which worked well and made clean-up a breeze. Thanks for sharing -- I suspect I'll be making these quite often.
 
cowgirlculture December 21, 2010
I made these last night to serve with chicken noodle soup and they were wonderful! At first when I saw they were not super puffy I was worried but they tasted amazing! Thank you for the recipe. Very easy and I love that they don't have shortening.