If you love a buttery, slightly sweet biscuit with a golden top and tender layers, this Sugar Biscuit Recipe is for you! These biscuits are easy enough for casual weekend breakfasts, but elegant enough for holiday gatherings and special brunches. With simple ingredients and straightforward steps, you can make a batch of fluffy, flaky biscuits in no time. Tested to perfection, these sugar biscuits turn our so good every time!
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Easy Sugar Biscuit Recipe
If you’ve never made sugar biscuits before, you will love how easy and delicious these are! Whether you’re making these for baby showers, brunch with friends, or just a slow weekend breakfast, these biscuits have the perfect balance between buttery and sweetness. Here’s what’s amazing about them:
- They Bake in Under 20 Minutes – Quick and easy for any day of the week!
- Easy to Make – Minimal steps and no special equipment required.
- Perfect Sweetness – Just the right hint of sugar to satisfy your cravings.
- Flaky and Tender – The layers are buttery, soft, and irresistible.
RELATED: Chocolate Courgette (Zucchini) Muffins
Ingredients in Sugar Biscuits
The ingredients for this recipe are simple and easy to find! Here’s what you’ll need:
- Unsalted Butter – Creates that flaky texture. Salted butter works, too!
- Buttermilk – Adds tangy richness and helps the biscuits rise beautifully. While it’s hard to find a substitution for buttermilk (it adds so much to these sugar biscuits), regular whole milk can be replaced in a pinch.
- Vanilla Extract
- All-Purpose Flour – make sure to level off and measure properly.
- Granulated Sugar – adds sweetness, but you can use less for a more savory biscuit.
- Baking Powder/Salt
- Coarse Sugar – An optional topping! Regular cane sugar works great as well.
How to Make Easy Sugar Biscuits
This Sugar Biscuits recipe is truly one of the easiest! Here’s how to make Easy Sugar Biscuits:
1. Prep the baking sheets. Cut cold butter into cubes and chill. Mix buttermilk with vanilla and refrigerate.
2. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
3. Toss butter cubes in the flour mixture, then break them into breadcrumb-sized pieces using a pastry cutter or your hands.
4. Mix the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients until a dough forms.
5. Dust a countertop with flour, shape the dough into a rectangle, and fold it into layers to create flakiness. Repeat twice more.
6. Flatten the dough and use a cutter to shape biscuits. Place on the prepared baking sheet.
7. Chill the biscuits for about 15 minutes while preheating the oven.
8. Brush biscuits with the buttermilk mixture, sprinkle with coarse sugar (optional), and bake!
9. Let cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a rack. Enjoy warm or store for later!
Tips for Buttermilk Sugar Biscuits
- Keep Everything Cold: From the butter to the buttermilk, cold ingredients are key to keeping the biscuits flaky and well-formed.
- Don’t Overwork the Dough: Handle it just enough to bring it together. Over mixing can cause the biscuits to lose form and their flaky texture.
- Use the Right Cutter: Press straight down with the biscuit cutter (no twisting!) to help the biscuits rise evenly.
- Storage: Store cooled biscuits in an airtight container or zip-top bag for up to 3 days at room temperature, or freeze for longer storage.
Variations for Easy Sugar Biscuits
- Savory Twist – Reduce the sugar to 3/4 cup and add 1 teaspoon of crushed fennel or anise seeds for a subtle savory note.
- Cinnamon Sugar Biscuits – Mix 1 Tablespoon of cinnamon into the sugar for delicious, spiced flavor.
- Gluten-Free Option: Substitute your favorite gluten-free flour blend – make sure it’s one designed for baking (a 1-to-1 substitute is great).
More Breakfast & Brunch Recipes
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- Nutella Puff Pastry
- Easy Coffee Cake Recipe
- Mini Pancakes
- Baked Apple Croissant
- Long John Donuts
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Easy Sugar Biscuits
Equipment
- Biscuit Cutter
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks, cold from the fridge
- 1 1/3 cups buttermilk additional 2 Tablespoons extra for brushing biscuits
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 cups all-purpose flour spooned and leveled, plus extra for dusting
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 Tablespoons coarse sugar optional, for sprinkling tops
Instructions
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Cut butter into small 1/2-inch cubes and place on a plate back in the refrigerator until later.
- In a liquid measuring cup (or medium bowl), whisk together 1 1/3 cup buttermilk and vanilla extract. Set in the refrigerator.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- Remove the cold cubed butter from the fridge and add it to the dry ingredients. Toss until each butter cube is coated in flour.
- Use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles breadcrumbs. *Alternatively, use your hands to pinch each piece of butter between your thumb and pointer finger and shingle it into a flat piece, then toss back in the flour to coat and break it up into smaller pieces. Repeat with remaining butter until it all resembles breadcrumbs.
- Remove the buttermilk mixture from the fridge and slowly pour it over the butter-flour mixture and use a rubber spatula to mix everything together until a dough begins to form.
- Dust the counter with 2 tablespoons of flour and place the dough on top. Push the shaggy dough together to form one mass, then press it into a large rectangle.
- Use your fingers and palms to flatten the dough into a large rectangle. Fold into an envelope. Shape and press down again to a large rectangle. Repeat this 2 more times. You can use a rolling pin or your hands for this step.
- Finally, dust the counter again with flour and shape the dough into a 8”x8” square or circle. It should be about 1 inch in thickness.
- Use about a 2 1/2 inch biscuit/cookie cutter to cut round biscuits and place onto the prepared baking sheet, at least 2 inches apart.
- Set the pan of biscuits in the fridge and chill for 15 minutes while you preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Brush each biscuit with the remaining 2 tablespoons of buttermilk and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
- Bake for 5 minutes at 375 degrees F, then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for another 12-15 minutes, or until the biscuits are puffed and golden.
- Let biscuits cool on the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling completely.
- Store in a ziplock bag until ready to eat!
Notes
- The key to making these biscuits fluffy and flakey is to work quickly from the time the buttermilk is added to the biscuits until the dough is formed and rolled out. Overworking the dough will make it less flakey and make the biscuits spread more.
- Variations – For a slightly more savory version, decrease the sugar to 3/4 cup and add 1 teaspoon of crushed anise seed or fennel seed. I tested the biscuits with 3/4 cup sugar too, but felt 1 cup was better.
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