“This cookbook is an authentic journey into my daily life,” says Carrie Morey, the founder of Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit, which since opening in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2005 helped launch a new appreciation for the Southern staple. On November 2, Morey will release her second cookbook, Hot Little Suppers (following Callie’s Biscuits and Southern Traditions: Heirloom Recipes from Our Family Kitchen), which delves into the dishes Morey whips up for dinners at home—everything from salmon salad to cream cheese pie, plus, of course, plenty of biscuits. Below, Morey shares more about the inspiration behind the book, a few of her favorite recipes, and how she uses leftover biscuit dough.
How did the idea for this cookbook come about?
It wasn’t so much an idea; this is what I’m cooking in my life, and I thought I might as well do the hard part and make recipes out of it. I try to sit down for a meal with my family four to five times a week, and they are a particular bunch. They constantly need to be inspired and don’t always want the same thing. I try to make things that are simple, easy and delicious. It’s just what we do over here.
I bet they enjoyed the recipe development process.
Oh yes, they let me know and do not mince their words about whether something was cookbook-worthy or not. I never have to worry about honesty with my three kids and husband.
What are some of their favorites that made the cut?
This is my favorite thing about cooking: Everything has to have an inspiration. When I think of this book, I think of how my youngest, Sarah, loves the pork ragu—that’s what she requested for her last few birthday suppers. I think of fried chicken, which my oldest daughter, Caroline, always begs for in any shape or form. And my second daughter, Cate, is the easiest to feed and loves everything, but especially the sweets. Quite a few of the sweet recipes in the book have her hand in them, in helping me create or make or eat them, or all of the above.
Did you feel this cookbook allowed you some creative freedom to go beyond biscuits?
It was so nice to share that—this may or may not surprise you, but we don’t make a lot of biscuits at home. This book is a true reflection of what we eat. The hardest thing about cooking is figuring out what to make next, and hopefully this book will help other families come together in the kitchen and see how easy it is to put something flavorful and delicious together.
This is Garden & Gun, so let’s do talk biscuits a bit. I loved seeing all the recipes for leftover biscuit dough.
As you can imagine, we have a lot of leftover biscuit dough in our production facility. So I started thinking, We can’t just throw this away. I actually love the biscuit crackers…the flavor of biscuit is buttery and delicious, and rolled super thin, hole-pricked and baked, it becomes something completely different that can be a vessel for cream cheese or, my personal favorite, spicy pimento cheese. And the egg in a hole is a fun way to make a brunch meal around the biscuit—you have this beautiful sheet tray or cast iron (however you make it) with an entire brunch item on it. There’s just so many options with biscuits.
And what about the beloved cinnamon biscuit?
The cinnamon biscuit was the fourth biscuit we brought out as a product. As a child I was not a huge breakfast eater, but cinnamon toast was my go-to because I could put it in the toaster oven, slather it with butter, and we always had that cinnamon sugar topping. So that was the inspiration for the cinnamon biscuit. I’m more of a savory-sweet person, and what I love about biscuits is that they have that savory-salty texture to them even when they are sweet. [The cinnamon biscuit] is all three of my daughters’ absolute favorite.
