biscuits: are you kidding me - so tasty

2 c flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt (plus a sprinkle on top)
8 Tbsp cold butter  (6 Tbsp and 2 Tbsp)
3/4 c buttermilk

preheat oven to 450 degree fahrenheit.  in a bowl, combine all dry ingredients and stir to mix.  cut 6 Tbsp of butter into chunks. combine butter with dry ingredients with a fork.  when butter is evenly distributed, pour in buttermilk and stir until just combined.  portion into 12 balls.  place balls close together.  melt remaining 2 Tbsp of butter.  brush half of melted butter on top of the biscuits and lightly sprinkle the top of each biscuit with a small pinch of salt.  pop in the oven for 10-12 minutes.  as soon as the biscuits are golden brown on top, take them out of the oven brush the tops with the remaining butter.  enjoy!

While living in Russia, Michael and I decided to throw a sort of southern dinner for a group of friends.  Instead of fried chicken, I made chicken nuggets (recipe to come), french fries, biscuits, and cucumber and tomato salad.  Taryn, an American friend who we met in Moscow, brought cole slaw to make it an all the more southern affair.  Everything worked out really well except the biscuits.  We later had the full blown southern dinner with fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, and cucumber and tomato salad because Annie sent me a youtube video of chefs making fried chicken that I couldn't get out of my mind - so I had to make it.  And there was no way I would serve a mediocre biscuit with this dinner.  So I kept searching for a better recipe and found one close to this and tweaked it to be perfect.  This is a great dense, southern biscuit, that I kept slightly fluffy by using a fork to mix in the butter rather than putting everything in a food processor.  The first few times I did use a food processor but the biscuits turned out more dense and heavy than desired.  I made it even tastier by adding the butter and salt to the top.