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My sweet friend Margaret Anne was gracious enough to visit this morning, and made quite possibly the best biscuits and gravy I've ever eaten to share with you.
good. gravy. 😉
We met at Bible Study earlier this year, and the minute I heard her sweet Southern accent I felt all-of-a-sudden-at-ease in a group of women who were completely new to me.
Isn't it funny how a kind voice can do that?
And once we got to talking, I realized she cared about so many things that I just loved too.
Margaret Ann's been a wife, mom, teacher, realtor, culinary school professor, chef . . . and she's even owned two restaurants in Rome, Georgia.
In fact, one of the scenes from the movie Sweet Home Alabama was filmed in her restaurant Magretta Hall. 😉
I knew you would love Margaret Ann too, so I was thrilled when she offered to do a few “cooking classes” with us here on PPP.
Last week in the Dinner's Done Facebook group she taught us how to make omelets (I learned so much from her!), and today she's showing us how to make homemade biscuits and gravy.
Or as she calls it, ” thickening gravy.”
That you can lather with a little butter too. 😉
Honestly? They were all just a little heaven sent. 😉
The biscuits and gravy were perfection.
And if it were up to me, you would come right over to my kitchen and we'd let her serve us up biscuits and gravy all day long.
A girl can dream, right? 😉
If you'd like to make biscuits and gravy too, here's what you'll need to get started:
(Note: I DEFINITELY recommend watching the video to see all of her tips – I had no idea the importance of incorporating the shortening, and she had so many tricks that I've never read in a cookbook. Thank you Margaret Ann!)
Margaret Ann's Biscuits & Sausage Gravy Recipe
*Makes a small batch of about 8 biscuits, but doubles beautifully.
Biscuit Ingredients:
- 2 Cups of All Purpose Flour
- 1 Tbsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 Tsp Salt
- 1/3 Cup of Crisco Shortening (or softened butter works too!)
- 3/4 Cups of Buttermilk (or 3/4 cups of milk mixed with 1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice, let sit on the counter for 15 minutes to sour the milk)
Biscuit Directions:
- Whisk together the dry ingredients
- Cut the shortening or butter into the dry mix with a pastry cutter (or you can use a couple butter knives if you don't have a pastry cutter)
- Work the dough until there are no chunks of shortening left (watch video for exactly how long to cut the dough)
- Add buttermilk, and stir into the mixture with your hand until you have a nice dough
- Sprinkle a little flour onto a clean surface and place the dough in the middle
- Knead the dough with the palms of your hands (not using fingers) by pushing it down a few times and then folding it in half. Repeat 4 or 5 times and then pat it into a mound.
- Roll out to a thickness of about 3/4″
- Tap a cookie or biscuit cutter in flour and cut out the biscuits (Number will vary depending on the size of your cutter)
- Place on a greased or sprayed cookie sheet and brush a little melted butter on top
- Bake between 400 – 450 for 10-15 minutes. *Because all ovens are different you'll want to just check for when they look just right to you!
Gravy Ingredients:
- 1 Lb of Pork Breakfast Sausage (Jimmy Dean is Margaret Ann's favorite)
- 4 Tbsp Flour
- 1 Cup Milk
Gravy Directions:
- Cook and crumble the sausage over medium heat (Do NOT drain)
- Turn heat down to medium-low
- Sprinkle a couple tablespoons of flour over the sausage and stir it in, cooking it for another minute
- Add 1/2 Cup of milk and stir around as it begins to thicken up.
- To stretch your gravy further or thin it a little, just keep adding more milk until it's how you like.
The best part is that by making them from scratch, you'll save a bundle, most likely using everything you have right in your pantry.
I'm hoping I can get her tricks down soon and make a batch for my bunch (but for today, we have just a few biscuits all ready to try for after school snacks.)
Let's just call it their lucky day. 😉
Let me know how the recipe goes for you, and share any other tips in the comments. I can't wait to hear from you!
Here are some tools that you may want to pick up if you plan to make biscuits often:
Non-Stick Pastry and Baking Mat
Pastry Cutter and Biscuit Cutters
Do you have a recipe for fluffy dumplings?
Wow your grave and biscuits good so yummy it how my mom made them and that how I do it all so thank you for showing use the video for it
I tried this recipe today and my biscuits didn’t rise. What are the reasons this could happen? I’m pretty sure my flour was old. My biscuit had a slightly sour taste.
Hmm, that could be Janet! Sometimes if your baking soda or baking powder is old they won’t rise properly either! Hope it works out for you better next time if you give them another try! 🙂
Good to know⏬
BAKING POWDER…(Its cousin, baking soda*, has an indefinite shelf life, although some manufacturers recommend changing it every three years.) To test if BAKING POWDER is still active, spoon 1/2 teaspoon in a bowl and pour 1/4 cup (60 ml) of boiling water over it. Right away it should bubble up violently. If it does, it’s still good.
I have been trying to make it a chicken and dumplings for a long time, thank you so much for your consideration but I would love it for you to do that and help me with it is the dumplings I have a hard time that I could make the actual flat noodles with us to the place that I remember my mother make it when I was little and they were big and fluffy could you help me please?
I mean the recipe for the Peach country cobblor!!?
Sorry I had it I couldn’t go back and change it on there where I said strawberry thank you so much for your time, Jewel
Hey Laurie, I was wondering if you could point out the recipe for the peach cobbler? I seen her make the strawberry cobbler I believe that was it a small 11 x 7 diah.
But I didn’t see her make the peach cobbler it came out of the oven when she was putting the strawberry cobbler in the oven, I was wondering if you could post the recipe for the strawberry peach cobbler? I would love to make it tonight or tomorrow if you can help me out please the only thing I could think of is I noticed that the peach cobbler I believe was waiting in a 13 x 9 baking dish so to me you would double what you did in the 11 x 7 which would be 2 cups of flour 2 cups of sugar two sticks of butter etc. etc. please let me know thank you are you going to have her the kitchen anytime soon again and maybe some chicken and fluffy dumplings I’ve been good looking so hard for a good chicken and fluffy dumplings recipe or does she have a website or something I could ask her for it that would be wonderful either way is fine thank you so much for your time and consideration have a wonderful day !!
Jewel
This recipe looks wonderful, but it doesn’t help at all if you can’t print it out without all the ad nonsense. You need to put a Print Recipe feature on your site.
I also would love to print out your recipes they are so good. I like to take them on vacation to try with my grandchildren at the beach . We don’t always have the internet to fall back on. Thank you for all your help.
Agree Patty!
Let’s bring Margaret back on and let’s cook some more, please
piecrust and chicken Pot pie please
How about macaroni and cheese ! About how ho cakes, how about some cake!!
Piecrust, please
Let’s have her make all of her southern favorites on your show because of course they’re not gonna cost much! Just like having Paula Deen in our kitchen!hey y’all who would not love that!! You would be famous !
Those ideas are great Jewel – she really is like having Paula Deen in my kitchen! 🙂
What a surprise! I live in Vero Beach, Florida . However, Rome, Georgia is my hometown. My maiden name is Womack! What is the name of your restaurant in Rome?
Hi Carol! I believe it was named Magretta Hall (it was in the movie Sweet Home Alabama.) Such a small world! 🙂
Thanks for sharing the recipe !! Which restaurants did Margaret Ann own in Rome, Ga ? I was born and raised there and moved to Alabama last year.
Hi Brenda! I believe it was named Magretta Hall (it was in the movie Sweet Home Alabama.) Such a small world! 🙂
I loved watching this video!! My grandmother and grandfather were from Rome. I LOVE it there!! I can’t wait to try biscuits and gravy!!! Thank you!
I love that Renae – thank you so much for sharing! I felt so lucky to have Margaret Ann here. So so glad you enjoyed it as much as I did! 🙂
I’m so jealous!! I want Margaret Ann to be MY friend too!! Biscuits and gravy look amazing!!
I feel so lucky to have her – goodness, the biscuits were AMAZING!!!