UPDATE: The original version as posted on the site resulted in biscuits that were super rich, but didn’t rise as high as traditional recipes. A reader – who has asked for no credit here, so my lips are sealed – suggested cutting back the butter from the original full stick to three-quarters of a stick. The difference in results is startling, so I have updated the recipe to include that change. Also, the Nameless Biscuit Guru also suggested letting the cut biscuits rest on the baking sheets at room temperature for about 30 minutes before baking if you possibly can – you will see the biscuits fluff as they sit and you end up with an amazingly light and airy result … exactly what you would expect from legendary biscuits. Thank you, Nameless Guru, thank you.

There are two fundamental truths about buttermilk: You cant make great biscuits without it, and you almost always end up wasting some of the buttermilk. You make biscuits once, maybe twice, whip up a batch of pancakes on the weekend … and when the expiry date comes around there is some left in the carton that ends up down the drain.

Batman may not have these problems, but for lesser mortals like you and I? Definite dilemma.

If you hunt around online you will find people suggesting that you freeze your leftover buttermilk. Sadly, however, the milk separates and never seems to want to completely re-emulsify, leaving you with biscuits that may or may not taste the same but come out semi-flat and with a nasty dry crumble in their texture.

But … what if you get the biscuit structure in place first and then head to the freezer? Better yet, what if while doing that we make sure the amount of buttermilk used is always an even fraction of a whole carton? And what if we do all of that in a recipe that lets you either completely bake the biscuits for eating now or par-bake and freeze them for a quick finish later?

That would be, to put it mildly, awesome. And if we tweak that recipe so that you can make it in a food processor for super easy prep and clean-up? Then, my friends, we move from the realm of “awesome” straight through to “legendary”.

That’s right … legendary biscuits. Want some? Keep reading.

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Here’s the thing: When you make mashed potatoes, you almost never make them to go alongside a sandwich or a salad or anything else that is easy and quick to put together. Mashed potatoes are inevitably going to be part of a meal that takes some time and effort to make. So the last thing you want to be doing when you are trying to carve your turkey or make your gravy or get everything to the table is the whole draining and drying and mashing and whipping process that goes along with good mashed potatoes.

Mashed potatoes are great. Sweating over that pot with the beaters and the milk and the butter when you have ten other things to do at dinner time … not so great. And while you can make traditional mashed potatoes ahead of time and then warm them up, they just aren’t the same in either body or texture when they get to the table.

So take a gander at your new secret weapon – mashed potatoes you can (and should!) make the day before and just pop in the oven for amazingly creamy and fluffy smashers that are ready when you are. They are rich and delicious and work equally well topped with either gravy or butter. And the only tools you need are a big pot, a 2 liter shallow baking dish (a gratin dish works wonders here) and an electric mixer.

Sound good? Of course it does. Keep reading!

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