Apparently I enjoy my tea biscuits! Here is another Tea Biscuit recipe I found in my collection. I’ve been writing them up and posting them here so I can find them – and share them with the world! This one is a fairly standard version of a tea biscuit and fairly quick to make!

Ingredients
4 cup white flour
8 level teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup Lard (at room temperature!) (or shortening if Lard doesn’t suit your life choices!)
1 1/2 cups milk (or half&half cream to give a richer feel!)

OPTIONAL
1) Use parchment paper for baking and easier clean-up!
2) 1 egg with 1/2 cup sour cream – reduce milk to 1 cup and replace 2 teaspoon baking powder with 1 teaspoon baking soda!
3) Add 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese! Reduce salt to 1/2 teaspoon (since cheese is salty..)

METHOD

1) In a large bowl mix all the dry ingredients thoroughly in a bowl.
2) If using egg and sour cream in a separate bowl mix the sour cream with the egg until blended. Add milk to this mix.
3) Drop the room temperature lard in the dry ingredients bowl, then using a pastry cutter blend the lard into the flour mixture until the mixtures has a course even texture.
4) Add the wet ingredients and mix well into the dough.
5) Using clean dry hands knead dough in bowl 6 to 8 strokes; if dough is too dry and not binding together, slowly add a bit extra milk a teaspoon at a time. This tea biscuit mixture should be moist without being too sticky! The dough should pull easily away from the sides of the bowl.
All of the above should be done fairly quickly to avoid over-working the flour and activating the gluten! (which would make the biscuits tough…)

6) Form into a ball and cut the biscuit dough. Place in fridge for 20 minutes to make it easier to work.
7) Preheat oven to 450°F
While the oven is heating roll out half the dough 1/4 inch thick. Lightly dust with flour if it is sticking to the rolling pin. Fold in half, and then fold in half again. (Yes that would now be a quarter – but this is cooking not math class!)
Now roll out once more to about 1/2 inch thick and cut biscuits (no bigger than 2 inches wide!)

8) Place biscuits on parchment paper in a cookie sheet. The biscuits should just be touching each other – this will make them puff upwards more than then expand sideways!
Brush the top with any left-over milk to make the tops brown evenly.
Bake for 12 to 17 minutes (or until golden brown on top)

Let cool a few minutes – and then enjoy!