“Whole worlds have been tamed by men who ate biscuits.” -The truly incomparable Jeff Bridges as the aging, troubled, fading country music star Bad Blake in 2009′s Oscar darling Crazy Heart

I can’t put down my newly-arrived copy of Amanda Hesser‘s “The Essential New York Times Cookbook.”  (And priced on Amazon at a measly $22.00, neither should you!)  It’s an impressive, hefty collection that Hesser compiled after carefully excavating the New York Times‘ recipe archives, and exhaustively testing each and every one in her own kitchen.  Anyone familiar with her wonderful website “Food 52” will surely appreciate her approachable recipes from all over the world, her interesting historical notes, and her own personal musings.  My copy currently has about a bajillion (actual number) little neon sticky flags sticking out every which way.  There is much to be inspired by.  Much to play with.  ”Much to be learned.”

Perhaps it’s a bit silly to choose, out of all that is offered in the book, to single out a humble little recipe for sage biscuits.  But there’s this beautiful sage plant, you see, that I purchased as a tiny little baby in the Union Square Greenmarket back in April.  I brought it home, planted it carefully in my garden’s herb patch, and took care of it all summer long.  It thrived outdoors in the full sun, growing big, beautiful, highly fragrant leaves.  But now, moved indoors in its own terra cotta pot to wait out the winter months, it seems to miss its old stomping grounds far more than I had anticipated.  It has become shy and withdrawn, just staring out the window all day, barely wanting to grow.  It probably got a bit worse when I came lunging at it with kitchen scissors the other day.  One day it’s enjoying a peaceful, lovely existence in the garden, left alone to grow with abandon, and the next thing it knows it’s being torn out of the ground and brought indoors to fend for itself against a vicious killer attack dog and a Santoku.  I wasn’t interested in sage in the middle of July when Mr. Sage Plant was at his most glorious, but I love sage in the autumn months.  Its aroma IS autumn.  The poor plant has his work cut out for him.

Besides being inspired by one of my plants, I am also on an ongoing mission to find a recipe for buttermilk biscuits that gets anywhere near the ideal that I’ve got in my head.  Despite working hard to change it, I’m still a pretty lousy baker.  More than likely, this is the number one factor in my repeated failures for this particular goal, but alas, I still haven’t succeeded at getting that soft, pillowy, buttery texture on the inside that I’m so fond of.  I struck out once again here, but I have to say that these are delicious standouts in their own right.  (I loved Amanda Hesser’s note on this recipe that “there is no historical significance to these biscuits…..I just liked them.”)  I thought this would be a great recipe to include on just about any autumn menu, and especially on a Thanksgiving menu.  Anyone can make these, they don’t take much time, and they will make your entire house smell incredible. (Incidentally, they also travel well if you’ve been asked to contribute a dish to a Thanksgiving celebration at someone else’s home…..)

I’ve adapted Hesser’s recipe for the food processor, which made even quicker work of an already-speedy set of instructions, and I’ve added a simple decoration by way of whole sage leaves to make the presentation a little bit more elegant for the holiday table.  I liked her rustic shaping method, but you could absolutely use a biscuit cutter if you want the shapes to be a bit more refined.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for bench flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. kosher salt

6 tbsp. (3/4 stick) cold, unsalted butter, cut into cubes roughly 1/2″ in size, and reserved in the refrigerator until ready to use

1/4 cup fresh sage leaves, washed, dried well, and minced very fine, plus 9 small whole sage leaves for decoration, if desired

3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp. buttermilk (NOTE:  Powdered buttermilk is definitely an acceptable substitute here.  Just follow the directions on the package.)

1 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

Instructions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 450ºF, making sure there is a rack in the center of the oven.

2.  Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together into a medium bowl.  Dump the sifted mixture into the food processor.  Add the cold butter cubes and pulse until the mixture has a similar texture to very coarsely ground cornmeal.  Add the minced sage leaves and buttermilk, and process until the mixture comes together in a big ball, about 6-8 seconds or so.

3.  Dust a clean work surface lightly with flour, and lightly flour your clean hands, too.  Turn the dough out onto the floured work surface and use your hands to work the dough into a square roughly 7″ x 7″ in size, and 1/2″ thick.  (NOTE:  A dough scraper was very handy for getting the corners to turn out nicely.)  Cut the dough into 9 squares with a dough scraper, and place each square on a baking sheet that has been sprayed lightly with cooking spray, or is lined with parchment paper or Silpat.

4.  Brush the tops of each biscuit with the melted butter.  If you have a bit of extra butter, go ahead and get the sides too.  Carefully place a small sage leaf on top of each biscuit, if desired.  Sprinkle biscuits with a tiny bit of kosher salt or sea salt, and then place in the oven to bake until beautifully golden brown, about 12-14 minutes.  Remove and allow to cool slightly on a wire rack.  Serve while still warm.

Yield: Exactly 9 little reasons why your house will smell amazing.