Recipe

7UP Biscuits

A box mix turned homemade favorite

November 5, 2024

Photo: Denny Culbert

Forget what you know about biscuits and proceed with eyes wide open. This recipe most likely came from the side of a box but has become a family favorite. The original recipe calls for Pioneer baking mix, but you can make your own mix to avoid food additives whose names you can’t pronounce. These are the biscuits I have every time I go to my parents’ house in Chauvin, [Louisiana], the biscuits I eat with blackberry or muscadine jelly before ﬁshing with my dad or having coﬀee with my mom. They are good the next day warmed up in the toaster, too.

I like to use lard or butter for these biscuits, but they can be made properly with any fat, including duck fat if you have some on hand, or Crisco, if you must.

NOTES: These are rustic biscuits that come together quickly. Have your ingredients ready to go so your butter melts in the oven while you are putting the dough together. Cut the biscuits with a well-floured knife, bench scraper, or biscuit cutter, methodically placing the tool back in the flour before you make another cut. Move the biscuits quickly to the baking pan and then to the oven. I like to nestle my biscuits together so they help each other rise by leaning and climbing on one another in the oven. —Melissa M. Martin, excerpted from Bayou: Feasting Through the Seasons of a Cajun Life

G&G recently chatted with Martin about her new cookbook and living by the Cajun calendar. Read the interview here.

Ingredients

7UP Biscuits (YIELD: Makes 12 large biscuits)
- 2 oz. cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 3¼ cups all-purpose ﬂour, plus more for dusting
- 1 tbsp. baking powder
- 1 tbsp. raw sugar
- 2 tsp. kosher salt
- 2 oz. lard or unsalted butter, chilled
- 1 cup 7UP
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- Butter and preserves, for serving

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 425°F. If your oven runs hot, go for 375° to 400°F. Place the butter in a 9-inch square baking pan and set in the oven so the butter melts. Set a timer for 3 to 5 minutes so you don’t forget. Remove once it has melted.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. (You can sift these together, but it’s not necessary.) Add the cold fat (not the melted butter) and cut it in with your fingers until it resembles coarse, pebbly meal.

Make a well in the center of the mixture and add the 7UP and cream. Mix together with a fork just until the dough comes together. The mixture will be very sticky.

Turn the dough out onto a clean, lightly floured surface and shape it into a craggy rectangle with the short ends at left and right. Fold the left side of the rectangle over to meet the right side, then fold the right side over to meet the left. Press the dough (no need to roll it) into a rough 8-by-13-inch rectangle about 1 inch thick.

Using a floured sharp knife or bench scraper, cut the rectangle into four equal parts, flouring the knife each time you make a cut. Divide each part into three biscuits to yield 12 biscuits. I like my biscuits 2 inches wide. Place the biscuits snugly in the pan with the melted butter.

Bake immediately for 20 minutes, rotating the pan after 10 minutes. The biscuits are done when the tops are golden brown and their internal temperature registers 200°F on an instant-read thermometer. Remove from the oven, place a clean kitchen towel over the dish, and let the biscuits rest for 5 minutes. Serve warm with butter and preserves.