Southern Ham Biscuits with Mustard & Maple Mayonnaise

Southern ham biscuits are one of those things I have often read about, but never experienced. According to one recipe I looked up, every Southern belle worth her salt has these in her armory and can whip them out at the least provocation. This here northern girl has never come within 3 states of them. Until recently (last year) I thought it was a biscuit with chopped up ham and cheese tossed into the batter and baked right in. (Which actually sounds like a good idea. Maybe I will make them northern ham biscuits. Just so we northerners aren't left behind in ham biscuits...) I believe I realized the error of my ham biscuit way while reading Martha Stewart Living or Bon Appetit. An article about tailgating at a steeplechase in Tennessee in the fall with pictures of delicately foggy mountains, tartan blankets, thermoses full of coffee, tea, or cocoa, and wellington boots. The sort of article you look at while eating your lunch of tuna fish sandwich at your quaintly tilted kitchen table (okay, broken table), while your kids badger you for more kool-aid and PBJ. And you think... If only I had southern ham biscuits in my armory, my life would involve more interesting food, grown up conversation, and tartan plaids. My inner preppy yuppie clamoring for expression.

Now, almost a year after reading about Southern ham biscuits, I have finally made my own. Really, they are just biscuits with ham and cheese shoved in them. But I decided to make them a little fussy. Rachel Ray suggest a drizzle of maple syrup. Southern living suggest blackberry maoynnaise (whaaa...?) Some other place suggest a thinly sliced piece of ham, fried crisp. I thought several different recipes sounded like just the ticket, so I made a conglomerated recipe. And they are good. Smokily sweet and tangy, with a sharp bite of cheddar and a flaky biscuit. With a star top and a flag toothpick thrown in for good measure.

First, the biscuits. If you have a good buttermilk biscuit recipe, use it. But mostly, you will want to use this recipe. Because it is good.

Biscuits

2 1/2 cups self rising flour*
2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup cold butter
1 1/4 cups buttermilk

*Self rising flour is available in most supermarkets, but if you don't feel like getting a specialty flour, just make your own, by adding 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt per cup of all purpose flour.

Whisk together flour and sugar. Roughly chop stick of butter. Dump it in. Using a pastry blender/cutter, cut the butter into the flour. (This could also be accomplished in a food processor if it wasn't late afternoon and the thought of washing your food processor seemed more than you could handle.)  Once the butter has been well chopped into the flour, stir in the buttermilk until a dough forms. Roll out dough on flour covered surface until 1/2 inch thick. Cut out 10-15 biscuits depending on the size of your cutter. (I like to cut them into 3 inch-ish squares, since it eliminates re-rolling the scraps. But occasionally, like the fourth of July, it seems worthwhile to have other shapes. To get a star top, means rolling thinner, using your star cookie cutter, and then re-rolling scraps and cutting the remainder into the same number of squares or circles.) Bake biscuits in 400 degree oven for 10 minutes.

Let biscuits cool. Or put the cheese on here, to make it melty.

Fry sliced ham, a minute or two per side until crispy. Slice cheddar cheese.

Mustard and Maple Mayonnaise

1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons mustard
1 tablespoon maple syrup

Mix together. These measurements are approximate--make it sweeter (more maple syrup) or sharper (more mustard) to your liking.

Split cooled biscuits. Spread with mayonnaise mixture. Put a crisped slice of ham and a bit of cheese onto each biscuit and top with other biscuit half. Then spear with whatever toothpicks you have handy to keep them moral and upright.

And then eat one and think how lucky you are to be born in the land of the free where there is google to give you 100+ variations on southern ham biscuits!