small batch honey butter biscuits

Small-Batch Honey Butter Biscuits

These honey butter biscuits are incredibly flaky, tender, and filled with honey butter flavor! Why? This honey butter biscuit recipe uses Land O Lakes® Honey Butter Spread in three ways: to make the dough, to glaze the biscuits, and finally, to serve with the baked biscuits! The best part? The recipe is small-batch and only makes 4 biscuits—the perfect amount for a small household.

A big thank you to Land O’Lakes for sponsoring this recipe! Learn more in the blog post, and thank you for supporting the sponsors that keep Hummingbird High up and running!

honey butter biscuits recipe

Why You Should Make This Honey Butter Biscuits Recipe

Here are all the reasons to make this recipe:

These honey butter biscuits are full of honey butter flavor—they have honey butter spread in the dough, coating, AND filling!

When I make flavored biscuits, I really want their flavor to SHINE. As a result, these biscuits are unapologetically flavorful and filled with honey butter spread. I use Land O Lakes® Honey Butter Spread in the dough to make the biscuits, coat the biscuits with a melted honey butter glaze, and fill them with MORE honey butter when serving.

This honey butter biscuit recipe is small-batch; it only makes 4 biscuits!

In case you missed it, I spent the last year developing small-batch versions of some of the most popular recipes on my site. I personally love small-batch baking—I have more access to a variety of fresh-baked goods, I waste less, and I don’t overindulge. This honey butter biscuit recipe makes just 4 biscuits, enough for a small household of 2 to 4 people!

This honey butter biscuit recipe comes together quickly and easily.

Thanks to some neat tricks like making the biscuit dough in a stand mixer, this recipe comes together really quickly! It takes about 5 minutes to make the biscuit dough, and another 5 minutes to shape the dough into the biscuits. The most time-consuming part involves waiting for the oven to preheat to bake the biscuits!

small batch honey butter biscuits

Small-Batch Honey Butter Biscuits Recipe Ingredients and Substitutions

Now that I’ve convinced you to make this small-batch honey butter biscuit recipe, here’s what you need:

Shopping List for Small-Batch Honey Butter Biscuits

And let’s talk about key ingredients and potential substitutions:

Land O Lakes® Unsalted Butter

You need 4 Tablespoons Land O Lakes® Unsalted Butter to make these honey butter biscuits.

Why You Should Use Land O Lakes® Unsalted Butter In This Recipe

Real Talk: Land O Lakes® Unsalted Butter is the all-purpose MVP butter I use in my recipes. To me, Land O Lakes® Unsalted Butter is the standard to which I hold all other butters. It improves every recipe—baking or otherwise—that I use it in. I love it so much that I even used it while testing all the recipes in my cookbook, Weeknight Baking! The best part? Land O’Lakes is farmer-owned, meaning that the 1,600+ farmer-owners who sell milk to Land O’Lakes have a stake in the company. You can learn more on Land O’Lakes’ website!

But back to the recipe. When it comes to baking, I also prefer to use unsalted butter. Doing so allows you to control the amount of salt in the recipe. It ensures that you don’t end up with a baked good that’s overly salty or umami!

Land O Lakes® Honey Butter Spread

You need 5 Tablespoons Land O Lakes® Honey Butter Spread to make these honey butter biscuits, plus more for serving.

What is Land O Lakes® Honey Butter Spread?

Land O Lakes® Honey Butter Spread comes in a tub and is made with sweet cream, sugar, canola oil, honey, and salt. The canola oil keeps it spreadable straight from the refrigerator, while the sugar and honey make it perfect for pairing with breakfast pastries like biscuits!

Do I really need both Land O Lakes® Unsalted Butter AND Land O Lakes® Honey Butter Spread to make these honey butter biscuits?

No, not really. In a pinch, you can get away with exclusively using Land O Lakes® Unsalted Butter to make the biscuits. To do so, simply replace the 4 Tablespoons of Land O Lakes® Honey Butter Spread needed for the dough with 4 Tablespoons Land O Lakes® Unsalted Butter. That’s it!

That being said, if you go this route, your biscuits probably won’t taste like honey butter. Like I mentioned earlier, the secret to this recipe’s honey butter flavor relies on using Land O Lakes® Honey Butter Spread multiple times throughout the recipe: first to make the dough, then to assemble the biscuits, and finally, to serve them, too.

Buttermilk

You need ½ cup buttermilk to make these honey butter biscuits.

I don’t have buttermilk. What can I use instead in these honey butter biscuits?

Make your own buttermilk with whole milk. Whisk together ½ cup (4 ounces or 113 grams) whole milk and 1½ teaspoons white vinegar or lemon juice in a small liquid measuring cup. Let sit for 5 minutes to thicken, then use as directed in the recipe. Although you can technically use non-fat or skim milk to make buttermilk, I don’t recommend it. These non- and low-fat versions will lead to less flavorful baked goods.

Alternatively, you can also make your own buttermilk with yogurt. I learned this neat trick from another blogger friend of mine. She thins out ½ cup natural, unsweetened and unflavored yogurt with ¼ cup water to use in place of ½ cup of buttermilk. She says that you can also use a thicker yogurt (like Greek yogurt), but you’ll likely need to use more water to get it to the consistency of buttermilk. Similar to my note above, use whole yogurt if possible. Non- and low-fat yogurts will result in less flavorful baked goods.

Can I use powdered buttermilk?

Yes! Follow the manufacturer’s instructions to make ½ cup buttermilk. Use as directed in the recipe.

Demerara Sugar

You need 1 Tablespoon Demerara sugar to make these honey butter biscuits.

What is Demerara sugar?

Demerara sugar is a type of raw cane sugar with a large grain and crunchy texture. It has a light brown color similar to brown sugar, and a subtle toffee flavor.

I don’t have Demerara sugar. What can I use instead?

In a pinch, you can replace the Demerara sugar in this recipe with any other kind of coarse sugar you have on hand. Specifically, both turbinado sugar and sanding sugar work well instead.

If you don’t have any of the coarse sugars I mentioned, don’t panic! You can also just use regular granulated sugar in its place. The tops of your biscuits won’t be as textured and crunchy as mine, but they’ll still be delicious.

And of course, if you’re planning on serving these honey butter biscuits as a side to a savory meal, feel free to omit the sugar topping completely!

Strawberries

You need fresh strawberries to serve with the honey butter biscuits.

Can I serve these honey butter biscuits with other fruit?

Yes! If you prefer another fruit, feel free to substitute the strawberries out with any fresh fruit of your choice. Other fruits that pair well with the biscuits include rhubarb (just be sure to roast it beforehand!), blueberries, blackberries, and peaches.

Whipped Cream

You need whipped cream to serve with the honey butter biscuits.

The Best Whipped Cream To Serve With Honey Butter Biscuits

Truthfully, I’m a bit of a whipped cream purist. I typically make my own whipped cream from scratch every time I want to serve it. To make your own whipped cream from scratch, combine ½ cup Land O Lakes® Heavy Whipping Cream and 1 Tablespoon confectioners’ sugar in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whisk on medium-high for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the cream holds soft peaks.

If that sounds like too much work for you, no worries! You can use store-bought whipped cream from a can. Your biscuits will be just as delicious—I promise!

hand drizzling honey over honey butter biscuit

How To Make Small-Batch Honey Butter Biscuits

Here are all the steps to make small-batch honey butter biscuits from scratch:

First, prep the ingredients for the honey butter biscuits.

  1. Prep the ingredients for the honey butter biscuits. (Prep Time: 5 minutes)
    For super flaky biscuits, make sure that ingredients like butter and buttermilk are very cold. What does that mean? Use the ingredients while they are still cold from the fridge—there’s no need to bring them to room temperature beforehand!

    And if you want to go the extra mile, I recommend freezing the Land O Lakes® Honey Butter Spread for at least 1 hour before using in the recipe. This is the secret to EXTRA flaky biscuits!

Next, make the honey butter biscuits.

  1. Make the honey butter biscuit dough. (Work Time: 5 minutes)
    The honey butter biscuit dough comes together quickly—it only takes about 5 minutes to mix everything together in a stand mixer! Why? Mixing the dough as little as possible results in super tender biscuits.

    Most biscuit recipes instruct you to start by making the dough in a food processor. Typically, they’ll instruct you to pulse the butter together with the dry ingredients until a coarse meal forms.

    However, I instruct you to mix everything together in a stand mixer. Why? I find it’s easy to over-process the dough in a food processor. It’s easy to pulse the mixture too much, leading to smaller pieces of butter that result in denser biscuits. A stand mixer enables you to see how everything is mixing together better. It also processes the dough much more gently.

  2. Shape the honey butter biscuit dough into biscuits. (Work Time: 5 to 10 minutes)
    Now comes the hardest part of the recipe: assembling the dough into biscuits. Place the dough on a lightly floured counter and pat it into a 1-inch-thick square. Don’t worry about getting it perfect—at this point, it’s more important to handle the dough as gently and as little as possible.

    After that, cut the dough into 4 squares. I cut the square in half horizontally first, then vertically. Stack the squares on top of each other and use your hands to flatten them into a rough square. All the layers you just created translate to different layers in your biscuits!

    Now, it’s time to be precise—use a rolling pin to roll the square into a 1-inch-thick square measuring 4 to 5 inches. Trim the edges to get a perfect square, and slice into 4 squares to make the biscuits. That’s it!

Bake the honey butter biscuits.

  1. Freeze the honey butter biscuits while you preheat the oven.
    I recommend freezing the biscuits while you preheat the oven. Doing so creates flaky, crisp biscuits by ensuring that the butter in the dough is cold when placed in the oven. It typically takes 15 to 20 minutes to preheat the oven to 425°F—that’s the perfect amount of time to re-chill the butter!

  2. Bake the honey butter biscuits. (Bake Time: 20 minutes)
    After placing the biscuits in the oven, immediately reduce the oven temperature to 400°F. The biscuits need 20 to 25 minutes in the oven.

Finally, serve the honey butter biscuits.

  1. Prep the ingredients for serving the honey butter biscuits. (Prep Time: 5 to 10 minutes)
    You can serve the biscuits plain from the oven, but I like to go the extra mile. Specifically, I like to serve them with fresh fruit, whipped cream, and extra honey. While the biscuits are baking, I prep everything I need to serve them. I wash and slice the fruit, and I whip the cream. This prep will take 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the type of fruit you’re using and whether or not you’re making whipped cream from scratch.

  2. Assemble the honey butter biscuits for serving. (Work Time: 5 minutes)
    While the biscuits are still fresh and warm from the oven, prep them for serving. Slice a biscuit in half like you would a bagel. Spread both halves with Land O Lakes® Honey Butter Spread, then layer the bottom half with fruit and whipped cream.
honey butter biscuits

Small-Batch Honey Butter Biscuits Recipe Troubleshooting and FAQ

FAQ: Baking Tools and Equipment To Make Small-Batch Honey Butter Biscuits

I don’t have a stand mixer. Can I make them with a handheld electric mixer?

Sadly, I don’t recommend it. A handheld electric mixer doesn’t have enough mixing power to properly beat the butter into the dry ingredients. But don’t worry! You can still make the biscuits. Check out the next question to see what other tools work instead of a stand mixer.

I don’t have a stand mixer. What other tools can I use to make these honey butter biscuits?

If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can use the following tools to make the biscuits instead:

  • Two butter knives. Combine the dry ingredients and the butters in a medium bowl. Hold the two knives at an angle and use them to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture has the texture of cornmeal. If you don’t understand what I mean, there are a ton of great videos online demo-ing this technique!

  • A pastry cutter/blender. Again, combine the dry ingredients and the butters in a medium bowl. Use a pastry cutter (also known as a pastry blender) to mash the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture has the texture of cornmeal. This is the tool I would use if I didn’t have a stand mixer!

  • A food processor. Combine the dry ingredients and the butters in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse, for 2 to 3 seconds at a time, until the mixture has the texture of cornmeal.

FAQ: What To Serve With Honey Butter Biscuits

What can I serve with honey butter biscuits?

I serve my biscuits as a sweet breakfast item with fresh fruit and cream on the side. However, you can really get creative! Honey butter biscuits also pair well with savory foods. I recommend serving them as a side to a turkey or chicken dinner. There are also plenty of savory-ish recipes that pair honey butter biscuits with fried chicken.

FAQ: Freezing and Storing Honey Butter Biscuits

How To Store Honey Butter Biscuits

The unassembled biscuits can be stored in an airtight container or zip-top bag at room temperature for up to 3 days.

However, I don’t recommend storing them assembled with fresh fruit and whipped cream. The fruit and cream will cause the biscuits to go soggy!

Can you freeze honey butter biscuits?

Yes! You can freeze the biscuits in two ways:

  • Freeze the honey butter biscuits before baking. After shaping the biscuits, place them on a sheet pan and loosely cover with plastic wrap. Freeze for 1 hour. After 1 hour, transfer the frozen biscuits to a zip-top bag and freeze for up to 3 months.

    When ready to serve, follow the recipe instructions to preheat the oven, brush the biscuits with butter, and serve. You may need to bake the biscuits on the upper range of their Bake Time (25 minutes, as opposed to 20 minutes).

  • Freeze the unassembled but baked honey butter biscuits. Place any leftover, unassembled (meaning that the biscuits are not sliced and served with fruit and cream) biscuits in a zip-top bag. Freeze for up to 3 months.

    When ready to serve, rewarm in the toaster oven or regular oven at 350°F for 10 to 15 minutes. There is no need to thaw the biscuits beforehand.

Best Small-Batch Honey Butter Biscuits Recipe Tips

Best Ingredient Tips

  • For this recipe, it’s especially important to pay attention to the temperature of the ingredients as they are listed in the recipe. The secret to incredibly flaky and tender biscuits lies in keeping your ingredients as cold as possible before baking! That means making sure your Land O Lakes® Unsalted Butter, Land O Lakes® Honey Butter Spread, and buttermilk are very cold. Don’t bring them to room temperature beforehand—simply use them straight from the fridge! And for extra credit, I recommend freezing the Land O Lakes® Honey Butter Spread overnight before using in this recipe.

  • And on a similar note, this recipe instructs you to brush the biscuits with Land O Lakes® Honey Butter Spread that’s been melted and slightly cooled. You don’t want it to be overly hot when you brush it onto the biscuits. I recommend melting the Land O Lakes® Honey Butter Spread right before preheating the oven and freezing the biscuit dough. Doing so will give it enough time to cool.

More Biscuit and Breakfast Pastry Recipes

More Small-Batch Breakfast Recipes

Get the Recipe: Small-Batch Honey Butter Biscuits Recipe

These small batch honey butter biscuits recipe makes 4 biscuits that are incredibly flaky, tender, and filled with honey butter in the dough and filling.
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Ingredients

For the Honey Butter Biscuit Dough

  • 1 ¾ cups (7.85 ounces or 223 grams) all-purpose flour
  • 1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 4 Tablespoons (½ stick or 2 ounces or 57 grams) very cold Land O Lakes® Unsalted Butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 4 Tablespoons (2 ounces or 57 grams) very cold Land O Lakes® Honey Butter Spread, scooped into 1 Tablespoon dollops
  • ½ cup (4 ounces or 113 grams) very cold buttermilk

For Assembly

  • 2 Tablespoons (1 ounce or 28 grams) Land O Lakes® Honey Butter Spread, melted and cooled slightly
  • 1 Tablespoon Demerara sugar

For Serving

  • Land O Lakes® Honey Butter Spread
  • fresh strawberries OR other fresh fruit of your choice, sliced
  • whipped cream
  • honey

Equipment

  • a stand mixer
  • a bench scraper
  • a rolling pin
  • a pastry brush

Instructions
 

For the Small Batch Honey Butter Biscuits

  • Make the honey butter biscuit dough. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Beat on low until just combined, about 15 seconds. Add the Land O Lakes® Unsalted Butter and Land O Lakes® Honey Butter Spread all at once and beat on low until the mixture has the texture of coarse meal, with pea-sized pieces of butter throughout, 1 to 2 minutes.
    With the mixer on low, slowly pour in the buttermilk. Beat on low for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the dough clumps around the paddle and/or the sides of the bowl. The dough will seem a littler dry, but that's totally normal, I promise! It'll work out.
  • Shape the honey butter biscuits. Use a rubber spatula to tip the dough onto a lightly floured counter. Lightly flour your hands and quickly pat the dough into a 1-inch thick square (don't worry about the size of the square at this point—the thickness matters more!). Use a bench scraper to cut the dough into 4 rough squares. Stack the squares on top of each other, and press down to flatten them into a rough square.
    Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a 1-inch thick square measuring roughly 4.5 x 4.5 inches. Use the bench scraper to trim a thin border around the sides of the square to create clean edges. Cut the resulting square into 4 biscuits, each measuring roughly 2 x 2 inches.
  • Freeze the biscuits while you preheat the oven. Place the biscuits at least 3 inches apart on a parchment-lined quarter sheet pan. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and freeze while you preheat the oven.
    Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 425°F.
  • Bake the honey butter biscuits. Once the oven is preheated, use a pastry brush to brush the top of each biscuit with the melted Land O Lakes® Honey Butter Spread for assembly. Sprinkle with the Demerara sugar.
    Immediately place the sheet pan of biscuits in the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 400°F. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the biscuits are golden brown on top.
  • Serve and store. Serve warm or at room temperature. The unassembled biscuits can be stored in an airtight container or zip-top bag at room temperature for up to 3 days.
    To serve assembled, use a serrated knife to slice one biscuit crosswise. Butter both halves with Land O Lakes® Honey Butter Spread. Place sliced strawberries and whipped cream on one half. Top with the remaining biscuit half and drizzle the entire biscuit sandwich with honey and more whipped cream. Repeat with remaining biscuits. Serve immediately.

Notes

  • For this recipe, it’s especially important to pay attention to the temperature of the ingredients as they are listed in the recipe. The secret to incredibly flaky and tender biscuits lies in keeping your ingredients as cold as possible before baking! That means making sure your Land O Lakes® Unsalted Butter, Land O Lakes® Honey Butter Spread, and buttermilk are very cold. Don’t bring them to room temperature beforehand—simply use them straight from the fridge! And for extra credit, I recommend freezing the Land O Lakes® Honey Butter Spread overnight before using in this recipe.
  • And on a similar note, this recipe instructs you to brush the biscuits with Land O Lakes® Honey Butter Spread that’s been melted and slightly cooled. You don’t want it to be overly hot when you brush it onto the biscuits. I recommend melting the Land O Lakes® Honey Butter Spread right before preheating the oven and freezing the biscuit dough. Doing so will give it enough time to cool.
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Weeknight Baking:
Recipes to Fit your Schedule

Over the past several years of running Hummingbird High, I kept a crucial aspect of my life hidden from my readers: I had a full-time, extremely demanding job in the tech world. In my debut cookbook, Weeknight Baking, I finally reveal the secrets to baking delicious desserts on a tight schedule.