Good news for stews! Your basic biscuit is given a personality makeover and comes back to life as a mini bread with an attitude. By cutting the dough into squares, you do away with re-rolling the scraps and ending up with a batch that inevitably includes a couple of ugly-duckling specimens. Every good biscuit deserves to be eaten hot (to melt the butter you’ll slather on them), so if they’re not served straight out of the oven, reheat them in a toaster oven or microwave.

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Parsley-Parmesan Biscuits
Karyl Bannister, Cook & Tell

2½ cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 Tablespoon snipped fresh chives
1 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 375°.

Sift 2 cups of the flour, the baking powder, sugar, and salt into a medium bowl. Stir in the cheese. Cut in the shortening with a pastry blender or two knives. Add the parsley and chives. Add the milk all at once and mix with a fork until just combined. The dough will be very wet and soft.

Spread ¼ to ½ cup flour onto a work surface and turn out the dough. Flip it over to take up some flour on both sides. Gently pat the dough into an 8-inch square, ½ inch thick. Cut into 16 squares with a floured chef’s knife or a dough scraper. Place the biscuits about 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 18 minutes, or until golden brown on the bottom and barely colored on top. Serve hot.

Makes 16 biscuits.

MF&L Staff at Maine Food & Lifestyle magazine.