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 make these all the time. To make them gluten free, I replace the 2.5 cups of flour with 2 cups GF flour (I use Cup4Cup) and 0.5 cup of corn starch. I try to knead them as little as possible, just enough to make it stick to itself. They rise nicely this way. I otherwise follow the recipe as is.
These are great to keep in the freezer. I can’t even count how many times I’ve made them. Always a nice side with soup.
Thank you so much for this! That is very helpful!
I have always struggled with biscuits until now. These are so easy and delicious.
I noticed there is no butter in this recipe. Are they going to be fluffy enough without butter or crisco added?
Correct, there is no butter. The heavy cream acts like butter and milk combined. Check the paragraph just under the first photo, titled “The Magic of Heavy Cream” for a more detailed explanation. :)
Would these have the same outcome using all whole wheat flour?
Probably not, whole wheat flour usually creates a much heavier, more dense end product. In general, I don’t suggest replacing more than 50% of AP flour with WW before you’ll see some pretty noticeable texture changes. I haven’t tried this particular recipe with a 50/50 mix, though.
I have made these with 2 cups whole wheat and the remaining amount and dusting with all purpose flour. They rise and are delicious.
They were very easy to make. I used a pizza cutter to cut them. Can’t wait to try them! Thank you
Can I swap the heavy cream for coconut milk?
I haven’t tried that, unfortunately, so I’m not sure how much it will affect the outcome.
Omg! Made these tonight and they were amazing!! Can’t believe how good they were. Baked 1/2 fresh and freezing the rest. Will definitely be making these again soon.
I’ve been meaning to try this recipe for a long time. Finally remembered to buy heavy whipping cream. The biscuits mixed up beautifully, so much less work than cutting in the fat. I didn’t do any of the folding, just patted out the dough and cut, but they still came out layered and perfect.
Has anyone else had them turn out super crumbly sometimes? Ive made this about 8 times and they taste fantastic but half the batches wont stay together once cooked.
Can I swap the cream for buttermilk? I have a bunch of buttermilk I need to use up and was hoping it would work for these!
Hi Amber, I am not sure but I am going to give it a try today!
Has anyone tried this with a gluten-free flour mix? I miss biscuits!
I just did! Bens cup 4 cup baking flour and it turned out awesome! Maybe not as brown as these pictures are but super good!
I know these as two ingredient biscuits — Cream and Self-Rising flour. I think I like your recipe better for not having to have an extra kind of flour around. Another use for this recipe is as the dough for the dumpling part of chicken and dumplings.
I would like to add sweet potato to the cream biscuits…should I reduce the cream and how much sweet potato? I don’t want to use butter…I love these cream biscuits…thank you!
WOW. These biscuits could not be easier. They are delicious, buttery, and soft!
I use this as my basic biscuits. I use home ground whole wheat Kamut Flour and substitute a can of full fat coconut milk for the heavy cream for my vegan family. I also substitute xylitol for the sugar. It works perfectly every time. It is still a bit high fat to be completely healthy, but it is as close as I could come and still have delicious biscuits. This is a great recipe. Thanks!
I was wondering if the full-fat coconut milk would work as a substitute for dairy; I’m glad to hear that it does!