Masa Biscuits
Ingredients
  • 3/4cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2cups masa corn flour
  • 2Tbs plus 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1tsp salt
  • 1 stick unsalted butterchilled, cut into small pieces
  • 1/2cup solid vegetable shorteningchilled, cut into small pieces
  • 2cups cultured buttermilkchilled
Instructions
  1. Position racks in upper and middle thirds of oven and preheat 450F.
  2. In a large bowl, stir together 3 ½ cups of the flour, masa, baking powder, and salt.
  3. With a pastry cutter, blend in butter and shortening until mixture resembles a coarse and slightly lumpy meal.
  4. Stir in buttermilk until a soft, crumbly dough is formed.
  5. Sprinkle work surface with half the remaining flour.
  6. Turn dough out, gather into a ball, and briefly knead, just until it holds together.
  7. Flatten dough, sprinkle with rest of flour, and roll out about 1-inch thick.
  8. With a round 3-inch cutter, form biscuits, transferring them to 2 ungreased baking sheets and spacing about 2″ apart.
  9. Gather scraps into a ball, roll out to 1-inch thick, and cut out remaining biscuits.
  10. Makes 12 large biscuits. (Fran’s notes: I used a 1 ¾” biscuit cutter for tiny appetizer size biscuits. These are especially good with jalapeno jelly.)