PAPA CARROL’S GAS STATION HAM BISCUITS

PAPA CARROL’S GAS STATION HAM BISCUITS
Carrol Enzor

My in-laws lived in Florence, SC, and on one trip, my Father-in-Law, Carrol, told me that the best ham biscuits in town were served just down the street from his home.  The first time he told me this, I dismissed him, because the name of the restaurant was “the Exxon Gas Station.”  Eventually, I tried one, and from that point on that was my breakfast on every single day of every single visit to Florence, except for Sundays when the store’s restaurant was closed.  My Mother-in-Law died in 2009.  My Father-in-Law died in 2017.  When we went to Carrol’s funeral, I made one last visit to the Exxon Gas Station and ordered three biscuits and asked for the recipe.

Ingredients:

·        2 cups all-purpose flour

·        2 teaspoons baking powder

·        ¼ teaspoons baking soda

·        ¼ teaspoon salt

·        ½ cup cold butter

·        ¾ cup buttermilk

·        1 tablespoon butter, melted

Directions:

1.     Heat oven to 450 degrees.

2.     Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. 

3.     Cut in ½ cup butter with fork or pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  This butter must be cold, and it may be helpful to grate the butter before adding to the mix.  Don’t worry if there are some pea-size bits of butter.

4.     Stir in buttermilk until it is moistened and stop there.

5.     Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead about a dozen times or until smooth.

6.     Roll out dough to 3/4-inch thickness.

7.     Cut with 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter.

8.     Place 1-inch apart onto ungreased baking sheet.