Last Saturday we had a chance to go to the Bourbon Steak restaurant at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess. We’re not steak eaters, but when we learned the Bourbon Steak offers what they call “Fried Chicken Nights,” a fried chicken four-course menu, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, we had to visit the restaurant.

The food was absolutely divine. (Sorry! I forgot to take pictures!) We ordered a wedge salad, buttermilk-fried Jidori chicken, Humboldt Fog cheese with fig jam, Marcona almonds, and a scrumptious Bourbon Banana Split for dessert. But it was their biscuits slathered with local honey that captured our complete adoration.

After those fabulous biscuits, I knew I had to find a similar recipe to try at home and share with you. So here’s a recipe that seems pretty close to those beautiful biscuits.   Enjoy!

Honey Butter Biscuits

Ingredients:

Honey-Butter 

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 3 tablespoons honey
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Biscuits

• 4 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for flouring your work surface and rolling pin
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 cup vegetable shortening
• 2 cups buttermilk

You’ll also need a baking sheet lined with parchment paper

Honey Butter

Bring 2 tablespoons of water to a boil in a small saucepan.

Gently whisk in the butter, one piece at a time, letting each piece melt completely into the water before adding the next one. Add the honey and salt, and whisk together until shiny and well-combined.

In order for the honey butter to spread easily it’s important to keep it warm.  Try keeping it in a warm area of the kitchen, or maybe over the lowest possible flame on the stove, until ready to use.

 Biscuits

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 425°F.

In a large bowl whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar.

Add vegetable shortening to flour mixture; break up chunks with fingertips until only small, pea-sized pieces remain. You can also use a pastry cutter.  Add the buttermilk and use your hands to mix everything together, turning the mixture until it forms a dough.

Keep turning and kneading, bring dough together into cohesive ball.

Dust surface lightly with flour and turn the dough out on it.  Flour your rolling pin, and roll the dough out until it forms a round about ½ inch thick. Fold the dough round into thirds, as if you were folding a business letter, brushing any excess flour from surface. Pat the dough down hard using the palms of your hands to really bring it together. Do this about 7 times in all, skipping the folding step the last time. Re-flour the work surface, the dough, and the rolling pin as you go.

Flour a 3-inch or 3 ½-inch round biscuit cutter, and cut out as many rounds of dough as possible (you should have 8 to 12 depending on the size of your biscuit cutter). Dipping cutter back into flour after each cut.

Lay the biscuits on the prepared baking sheet.  Bake for 10 minutes and turn the baking sheet so that all the biscuits bake evenly.  Bake for another 10 minutes and tops are golden brown and crisp.

Pull them out of the oven. Using a big pastry brush, brush the tops of the biscuits with the honey butter. The biscuits will be very soft and flaky inside.  Let cool on baking sheet 5 minutes before serving.  Just make sure to serve them while they’re hot.

Makes 8 to 12 biscuits

From  American Flavor by Andrew Carmellini.