Sorry this post is late; my parents are leaving for my dad’s new job in Doha soon, and things have been hectic around here.  🙂

I’ve done a couple posts about biscuits before, but this time, I wanted to re-create the fried biscuits I always ate way too many at Chinese buffets.  🙂

This is a basic, slightly sweet drop biscuit dough; you can either divide it up into six to eight pieces and bake it for drop biscuits (15 minutes or so at 375), or divide it up into twelve to sixteen pieces and fry it for fried biscuits.  I like fried biscuits better, so that’s what I’ll detail here.  🙂

Be patient with these as they fry; you want a nice, dark golden brown, to be sure the dough’s cooked all the way through.  If your dough pieces are too big (i.e., any bigger than a golf ball, preferably not even quite that big), or you take the biscuit out of the oil too soon, you’ll bite through a nice crust and maybe even a nice inner bread, and then hit a raw center — gross!

But why dwell on the downsides?  🙂  Time to fry some biscuits.

Fried Drop Biscuits

Yield:  about 16 biscuits

Ingredients:

• 5 T butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cup dough mix
• 1 tsp xanthan gum
• 3/4 tsp guar gum
• 1 T baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 T sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• oil for frying
• sugar to roll the cooked biscuits in

Directions:

1.  Heat frying oil to 350 degrees Farenheit.  If you have a deep fryer, that works best, but anything a few inches deep will do — you’re going to have to turn the biscuits over halfway through no matter how deep the oil is, anyway.  🙂

2.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, with the paddle attachment, whip the butter briefly.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients — dough mix, xanthan gum, guar gum, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt — then add the dry ingredients to the stand mixer bowl.  Finally, add the vanilla and milk, and mix until all ingredients are fully combined and smooth.  The dough will be very soft.

3.  While the oil’s heating, prepare a drain plate, with either paper towels or brown paper.  Fill a large ziploc bag with sugar, and get a pair of tongs handy, too.

4.  Divide the biscuit dough into 12-16 small pieces, small enough to fit in your fist, or smaller.  Carefully drop 5-6 pieces in the fryer — or as many as will fit with some room to spare, they will expand as they cook.

5.  Let the biscuits cook for at least 3 minutes, or until a dark golden brown on the bottom.  Use the tongs to turn them over (keep at it, they’re stubborn) to cook the other side for at least another 3 minutes.

6.  Use the tongs to take the fried biscuits out and let them drain on the drain plate; put the next batch of dough in the fryer, and repeat.  While the fried biscuits are still hot, shake them in the bag of sugar to coat them well, then take them out and serve them while they’re hot!  😀