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)
Hi! I just tried this and it was so wonderfully easy! My biscuits turned out ugly, but they were delicious 😋
Question: is there a version/modification that could work with buttermilk?
I don’t think buttermilk has a high enough fat content for it to work quite the same. Also, if you’re using cultured buttermilk, that’s quite acidic so you’d probably want to substitute some of the baking powder for baking soda. (chemistry, yay!)
I’ve twice now made this recipe by subbing half a cup melted butter poured into a scant cup or so of whole milk, and it’s turned out really well both times. It was a pleasant surprise, since we always have milk and butter on hand but we’d have to remember specially to buy heavy cream.
I’d note that like other commenters, I’ve always had to add extra flour, and that’s even with consistently making them half whole wheat.
Can you use half & half? I have a bunch in the fridge!
I have used half and half before and it’s worked out okay!
If using half and half, do you need to change the amount of flour? I tried using half and half but the “dough” became very thin and wouldn’t hold. I probably added an additional half cup of flour. Thanks!
No but I do find that when I make them it can vary from time to time that I may need a little extra flour.
Do you think I could sub a cup of the all purpose flour for whole wheat flour? Or would that mess it up too much?
Yes that would be okay!
Turned out perfect and so delicious! Budget Bytes recipes are a winner ever time.
Beth back at it again with a great recipe. I’d been craving biscuits and great as homemade biscuits are, sometimes Pillsbury is just more convenient. I currently live in Rome, Italy and convenient items like Pillsbury don’t exist. I came across this freezer biscuit and decided to make them for breakfast. They were so great with a little butter and jam. The recipe was straight forward and easy to follow like all her recipes. Thanks for another great one, Beth!
My first batch of these turned out UGLY (because I am awful at making biscuits), and some of them were more like crescent rolls than biscuits, but they are delicious and I will definitely make them again.
5 stars…I just made a double batch of theses and my 16 year old said this recipe was “awesome sauce”. I think these are amazing, I can easily see how eating three isn’t hard (lol) thanks for sharing, I will defiantly make them again!
Made these last night for Thanksgiving today. They were super easy and a big hit. Perfect for a big meal but I’ll also be keeping a batch in the freezer for “biscuit emergencies”
Hooray! Thanks for letting me know Samantha!
Can these be made without sugar?
Yes, although sugar does help balance the flavors, especially the bitter from the baking powder.
I was so excited to try these to keep on hand in the freezer, and I cannot figure out what went wrong! After mixing all the ingredients, I ended up with more of a batter than a dough…I probably “dusted generously” another half cup of flour or more and still didn’t get anything stiff enough to knead or cut. I’ve made enough biscuits to know what the consistency should be, and I could not get these to work. Any ideas what might have gone wrong?
Hmm, and you definitely used heavy cream and not half and half or light cream? It definitely sounds like the liquid to flour ratio was off, and the only reason I can think of that this would happen is if the cream you were using had a higher percentage of water, which would happen if it was a lower fat percent cream product.
Can I use self raising flour for this?
Thank you
Connie
Self rising flour already has the baking powder in it, so you can probably do it as long as you leave out the baking powder listed in the ingredient list. But that’s just my best guess, since I haven’t actually tested this recipe using self rising flour. :)
Hello, I made 3 batches of these for our Company Christmas breakfast and they loved them! Typically my homemade biscuit recipes turn out terrible.
I was curious if I would be able to use full fat whole milk rather than the heavy whipping cream? Are there any other ingredients I would have to use if I decided to use whole milk in this recipe?
Thank you!
Unfortunately this technique requires the use of heavy cream because the recipe does not have butter (the butter fat is IN the cream). If you used whole milk, you’d need to also add butter, but that requires the use of a different biscuit technique. Here is a biscuit recipe that uses milk and butter instead of cream. :)
Would I be able to use heavy cream instead of heavy whipping cream?
Yes, they are close enough in fat content that it should work out just fine.
Maybe a silly question, but could these go straight into the oven? Is the freezer step mandatory?
Yep! They take about 16-20 minutes to bake from fresh instead of frozen (listed in the last step of the recipe, I should probably make that more clear!). :)
Thank you, Beth, for clarifying as I had the same question regarding what was meant by “fresh” in your instructions. (I didn’t know whether “fresh” meant those biscuits after “freeze for 2 hours or just until solid” or if it meant they don’t get put in the freezer at all, and are baked immediately after cutting and putting onto parchment-lined baking sheet. Thank you!