Cat Head Biscuits

When we spied “Cat Head Biscuits" on a highway billboard near Greensboro, N.C., we did an immediate double take (not to mention a U-turn) to see what exactly they were. Aside from an unfortunate name, the biscuits themselves were tender and moist, with a golden brown, craggy exterior—well worth reproducing back in the test kitchen.

We discovered that traditional cat heat biscuit recipes were made with lard, but most modern recipes use shortening instead. We found shortening alone to be too artificial tasting, so we replaced most of the shortening with butter. To create a more tender biscuit, we used an equal mix of cake flour and all-purpose. Most cat head biscuits recipes called for cold fat, which was “cut" into the dry ingredients to promote a flaky texture. Because we were after a fluffy texture, softened butter and shortening worked in with warm hands worked much better.