Go Back
Raspberry jam and butter spread on half of a fluffy biscuit.

Butter Swim Biscuits

Yield: 9 biscuits
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

  • ½ cup butter
  • 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 cups buttermilk

Instructions 

  • Cut the butter into pieces and place in an 8X8-inch or 9X9-inch baking pan. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (or 425 degrees F if using a glass pan, you live at high altitude and/or your oven bakes hot).
  • Place the pan with the melted butter in the oven while it preheats to let the butter melt (it will only take a few minutes - watch carefully so the butter doesn't burn). Alternately, you can avoid all the fun and melt the butter in the microwave and spread in the pan.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda.
  • Pour in the buttermilk and stir with a spatula or spoon just until no dry streaks remain - don't over mix!
  • Tilt the pan of melted butter so the butter evenly coats the bottom of the pan.
  • Dollop the biscuit batter in heaping spoonfuls over the melted butter. Use a spatula to even out the batter. It's ok, and actually preferable, for the butter to pool up, around and on top of the biscuit dough.
  • Use a plastic knife (I've found this works best, but you can also use a bench scraper or other knife) to cut through the biscuits to make nine squares. The batter is sticky, so you won't get super clean cuts - that's ok. You just want to mark cuts in the biscuit dough so that the biscuits easily separate into squares after they are baked. This also helps the butter infiltrate all the nooks and crannies of the biscuit dough.
  • Place the pan on a larger aluminum-foil covered baking sheet (in case of spillover) and bake for 25-35 minutes until golden around the edges and the middle is baked through. Serve warm!

Notes

Oven Temperature: it's really important for the biscuits to bake at a high oven temperature to ensure crisp, buttery edges. If the biscuits are turning out overly greasy and under baked, increase the oven temperature by 15-25 degrees and/or bake for longer. 
Doubling: I haven't doubled this recipe, but if doing so, I would suggest 1 1/2-ing the recipe for a 9X13-inch pan.