Grammie’s Orange Biscuits

Submitted by: DONNA + ARVED LARSEN

Side story: Donna and Arved Larsen are the parents of Dr. Soren Larsen, Chair of the MU Department of Geography.  They have only recently moved to Columbia from Illinois and have survived downsizing from their 3,000 square feet home of many years to 1900 square feet. We welcome them to our Columbia community and delighted that this delicious Larsen family recipe for Grammie’s Orange Biscuits traveled with them and will now become part of The Common Ingredient’s shared comfort food lore.

Their Food Story:

This is told by my husband, Arved as it is his mother’s recipe.

 When I was a boy growing up in Connecticut, my mother taught me how to cook, an action that was to some degree in self-defense, since there were six children in the family. I especially enjoyed “cutting in” the shortening which was accomplished with one knife in each hand slicing against each other. I soon realized I could have orange biscuits any time I wanted simply by getting up early and starting the process before anyone could stop me. Other benefits included putting on as much sugar as I liked and avoiding the hated raisins she sometimes included. My mom was a saint who didn’t come out ahead on this process because I was very messy and my clean-up skills were yet to be developed. It is a recipe that is so easy a child can make it and the results are impressive!

GRAMMIE’S ORANGE BISCUITS

Makes: 10-12 servings

Ingredients:

• Dough

  • 2 cups flour

  • 3 teaspoons baking powder

  • ½ teaspoon salt

  • ½ cup shortening

  • 2/3 cup milk

  • 2  tablespoons butter, melted

  • 1/3  cup nuts

  • 1/3  cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar

  • Cinnamon

• Sauce

  • 2 ½  cups orange juice

  • 3  tablespoons butter

  • 1/3  cup sugar

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 450°

Sauce:
In a saucepan, mix orange juice, butter and sugar. 
Bring to a boil and simmer about 10 minutes.

Dough:
Cut shortening into flour until mixture resembles coarse meal. 

Quickly stir in milk; knead dough lightly.

On a floured surface roll dough into a 20x13 inch rectangle. 

Brush dough with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon and nuts.

Roll up long side of dough jellyroll style and cut into 1 ½ inch slices. 

Place biscuits in a 9x13 inch pan.

Pour sauce over biscuits and bake at 450° for 15-20 minutes.

To serve, turn biscuits onto serving dish upside down and ladle some of the sauce over.