Recipe: Aunt Ellie's Tea Biscuits

AUNT ELLIE'S TEA BISCUITS
Source: Edna Staebler, Food That Really Schmecks: Mennonite Country Cooking As Prepared by My Mennonite Friend Bevvy Martin, My Mother and Other Fine Cooks, c2006.

Aunt Ellie had white hair, mischevious blue eyes, a budgie bird that sat on her head and she made the best tea biscuits that anyone ever tasted.

4 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup lard
1 cup sour milk or buttermilk
1 cup currents (optional)

Mix the dry ingredients and the shortening til the mixture is crumbly. Add the sour milk and currents and mix with a spoon just enough to make sure everything is connected. Drop spoonfuls of the thick dough on a butter sheet pan, sprinkled with a bit of sugar.

Bake in a 400 degree F oven for about 15 minutes - keeping watch that til they are golden brown on the edges. Serve them warm; they're so rich they hardly need butter, with the currents in them they don't need jam either.