I looove fresh biscuits in the morning and even though making Homemade Biscuits from scratch is super easy, I think the whole “cutting in butter” step tends to deter people from making them. But guess what! It can and does get even easier. I recently discovered that you can use heavy cream in place of butter and milk (both are heavy cream derivatives) and get nearly the same result. I went one step further and froze my dough so that the only work required when I want fresh biscuits is turning the oven on and setting the timer. 5 Ingredient Freezer Biscuits! YAS!
The Magic of Heavy Cream
I was a little worried the first time I tried cream biscuits because the little lumps of butter that are in normal biscuit recipes are what makes them nice and flakey. With heavy cream the “butter” is in microscopic globules, so I didn’t expect much of that buttery-flakey effect. It’s true, they weren’t flakey, but they were the most heavenly light, airy, and fluffy biscuits I’ve ever made. I’ll take that plus the extreme ease of prep over flakiness any day.
I’m not kidding when I say that I’ve had to exert real willpower every day since making these 5 Ingredient Freezer Biscuits. I “accidentally” ate three of them on the day I took the photos and I’ve wanted to bake the remaining biscuits every day since. This is going to be dangerous.
P.S. Heavy cream is usually a lot less expensive when purchased in quart-sized containers, so it wouldn’t hurt to make a double batch of biscuits. ;)
Can I Substitute The Heavy Cream?
No, you can not sub whole milk, 2% milk, skim milk, or non-dairy milk. They simply do not have enough fat to create the same texture in the biscuit. See the info above.
What to Serve with Freezer Biscuits
These tender little biscuits are perfect with some butter and jam, or perhaps some Homemade Lemon Curd. I usually serve them as a side to my eggs with breakfast, but they are also a nice quick side to go with dinner. And if you want to go southern-style, drench them with some Country Sausage Gravy! :)
5 Ingredient Freezer Biscuits
Servings 12 1 eachIngredients
- 2.5 cups all-purpose flour (plus some for dusting) ($0.26)
- 1 tsp salt ($0.05)
- 1 Tbsp sugar ($0.02)
- 4 tsp baking powder ($0.16)
- 1 pint heavy whipping cream ($3.65)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder until well combined.
- Pour in the heavy cream and stir until a sticky ball of dough forms. Sprinkle the dough generously with flour and then turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Gently knead the dough 2-3 times, or just until the dough feels mixed and has enough flour that it is no longer sticky. Avoid over working the dough.
- Gently pat the dough down into a 6×8 rectangle, then fold it in half. Repeat this two more times. Folding the dough in this manner helps create layers within the biscuits.
- After folding, pat the dough down into a 6×8 rectangle one final time. The dough should be about one inch thick. Cut the dough into 12 squares.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment, then place the cut biscuits on the parchment, separated just slightly. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze the biscuits for a couple of hours, or just until solid. Label and date a gallon-sized freezer bag. Place the frozen biscuits in the bag for long term storage (3-4 months).
- To bake the biscuits, place any number of biscuits you want on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Let the biscuits thaw only as long as it takes to preheat the oven to 400ºF. Once the oven is preheated, bake the biscuits until puffed up tall and deep golden brown on top. Depending on your oven and size of the biscuits, it should take about 18-22 minutes (frozen), or 16-20 minutes (fresh).
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Nutrition
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Looking for a savory version of these soft and fluffy biscuits to serve with dinner? Try my Cheddar Drop Biscuits!
How to Make Freezer Biscuits – Step by Step Photos
In a large bowl, combine 2.5 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 Tbsp sugar, and 4 tsp baking powder. Mix them together really well.
Pour in one pint of heavy whipping cream.
Stir them together until a sticky ball of dough forms. It will likely be fairly wet and sticky, so before turning it out onto your work surface, dust it liberally with flour.
Gently knead the dough just a couple of times to work in just enough flour so that it’s no longer sticky. Press the dough down into a 6×9 rectangle, then fold it over. Repeat that process two more times. Folding the dough into layers like this helps create layers in the final biscuits.
After folding it over a few times, press it down into a 6×9 rectangle one final time. the dough should be about one inch thick. Cut it into 12 square biscuits.
To freeze the biscuits, line a baking sheet with parchment and place the biscuits on top (separated slightly). Cover with plastic and freeze for a couple hours, or just until they’re solid.
Transfer the mostly frozen biscuits to a heavy duty freezer bag for longer storage. As with most frozen items, I like to use them within a few months because food tends to dry out a bit after that… but I don’t suspect these will last that long!
To bake the biscuits, take them out of the freezer and place them back onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Let them thaw only as long as it takes to preheat your oven to 400º. Once fully preheated, bake the biscuits until they’re puffed up and golden brown on top. The total baking time will depend on your oven and the size of the biscuits, but it should take about 18-22 minutes if frozen, or 16-20 minutes if fresh. Just keep an eye on them. :)
Oh my biscuits… (I think that’s going to be my new saying)
I’ve made these biscuits about half a dozen times and they are the best. Simple, versatile and delicious! We turn them into scones by adding nuts, raisins, cinnamon etc. or eat them plain with sausage patties and egg for a guilty breakfast. My go-to biscuit recipe!
Delicious! Thank you. Heavy cream was only $1.69 at my Aldi
Just came across your website. It is quickly becoming my favourite!
I can’t use the cream because of 3 out of 4 in my household are lactose intolerant. Would coconut milk work? I will give it a try and let you know.
Hmm, I’m really not sure if coconut milk would work. It really needs to have just the right amount of fat and moisture for them to come out correctly and I’m not sure if coconut milk matches that composition.
Can half and half replace heavy cream or maybe buttermilk?
For this one you really need the heavy cream because of its high fat content. That’s what makes the biscuits the correct texture.
Made these for Thanksgiving and they were great! Absolutely perfect with cranberry sauce. I am going to attempt to find a vegan replacement for the milk, so I’ll keep you posted if I find a way to veganize it! Thanks!
I made these this morning to use up some heavy cream before it went bad. They turned out so great! My shaping needed a little work but the taste was amazing.
Just the BEST THING EVA!!!
I used this recipe to make your VEGGIE PACKED FREEZER READY BREAKFAST SANDWICHES. Wow, wow, wow!!! One of my new favorite things (and the rest of the family for that matter).
These were the easiest and tenderest biscuits I think I have ever made. I thought we would miss the cold butter that I usually cut in, but we did not even notice. Folding the dough multiple times is the key to layers. I will try freezing my next batch, but for this batch I cut the recipe in fourths to make just 3 biscuits for my husband and I. It still worked beautifully. Thank you.
I was thinking of making these with some mashed sweet potato mixed in (like the sweet potato biscuits recipe). Any suggestions on how to adjust the other ingredients to make this work? Perhaps reduce the amount of cream?
Oooh, I don’t know. That sounds too tricky to guess without trying out. It’s a great idea, but I have no idea how it would actually work.
I ended up trying it! I added a cup of cooked sweet potatoes and mixed it into the dry ingredients, then added in cream a bit at a time until the consistency seemed right (about 2/3 or 3/4 of the pint?). It was too sticky to knead so I added more flour, but the end result was very tasty!
Found your blog a few months ago – LOVE it! First time commenting although we’ve tried and enjoyed many of your recipes. I adore biscuits and being able to make them out of the freezer is wonderful! Although mine aren’t rising as much as yours they are still totally delicious. Thanks Beth!
I can’t get over how easy these were to make and how good they tasted! I baked half of them straight into the oven and stashed the other half in the freezer, but I think that I’ll be out before the weekend, which is going to be a problem because I now have high hopes of biscuit breakfast sandwiches on Saturday morning.
I gave these a trial run before I committed to making them for Thanksgiving. Delicious! My son who is a graduate of culinary school gave them a 5 star rating too. They will be on my Thanksgiving table. Excellent recipe. Thanks.
Made these for dinner tonight. My husband has declared them the BEST Biscuits ever!
These are the best biscuits I have ever eaten. And they were very easy to make.
Self-rising flour would cut the ingredient list even more! If you skip the sugar (I prefer my biscuits less sweet), it’s a two ingredient recipe!