Ina Garten's Stress-Free Biscuit Tip For Easier Mornings

Beyond her delicious array of simple recipes, Ina Garten is one chef who uses quality ingredients and straightforward cooking techniques that are easy to master. While Ina Garten's favorite breakfast is a microwaved classic thanks to quick-cook oats and water, she also has a useful hack for making a no-fuss, biscuit-centered breakfast. Instead of making biscuits first thing in the morning, Garten preps a fresh batch of unbaked biscuits the night before and stores them in her fridge until the following day.

This way, in the morning, you can enjoy fresh-baked biscuits alongside your usual scrambled eggs or fruit smoothie without messing up your kitchen. Whether you want to enjoy hot buttermilk biscuits and sausage cream gravy without the stress or simply get ahead of the day, Garten's genius meal-prep method is key. Next to making your work week a little less chaotic, a fresh batch of make-ahead biscuits also comes in handy when you're hosting a weekend brunch for friends or family.

Thanks to these pre-formed snacks, you have more time in the morning to prepare special breakfast cocktails as well as Ina Garten's famous roasted vegetable frittata. Not to mention, prepping Garten's recipe for buttermilk cheddar biscuits in advance is simple and can be done in just a few integral steps. However, there are some key factors you should keep in mind in order to produce delicious next-day results each and every time.

For starters, if you've ever wondered which is better for biscuits: room temperature butter or cold butter, Ina Garten recommends cold ingredients only. Especially when you're prepping biscuits the night before, make sure to use butter straight from your fridge. If you're worried about over-handling, pre-cut your sticks of butter into cubes earlier in the day and then add them to your mixing bowl when you're ready to form your dough.

Moreover, Garten recommends mixing the combined ingredients just until the butter resembles small, pea-size portions. This way, when you bake your biscuits, the butter melts and creates steam which, in turn, leads to taller, flakier baked goods. Garten also uses cold buttermilk, eggs, and cheddar cheese. Using cold ingredients also helps your biscuits form easily and maintain their shape before and during the baking process.

Speaking of shape, Garten forms her dough into one long rectangle and cuts it into neat, block-like portions. This is also a great shape for freezing pre-made biscuits. Instead of baking all your biscuits at once, bake only what you intend to consume and freeze the rest. Once fully frozen, square or rectangular biscuits are easy to stack and store in freezer-safe plastic bags. Though, before you bake Garten's biscuits straight from the fridge or freezer, make sure to brush them with egg wash and sprinkle them with salt and more cheddar cheese for an extra savory taste.