Rachel's Famous Homemade Biscuits and Stickies

My husband and my brother-in-law alerted me that this recipe was not included in Miss Rachel's Heirloom Recipes. I had to fix that right away! My brother-in-law says that these biscuits and stickies were served on special occasions when he and his brothers were growing up, such as times when they left for college or went on trips. He also says that Rachel learned how to make these biscuits and stickies from watching her mother, who must have learned from HER mother, and so on.

• Ready In: 33 mins
• Yields: 14 biscuits

Ingredients

• 2  cups self-rising flour
• 7  tablespoons Crisco shortening (r)
• 3⁄4 cup milk (Rachel recommends a little less than 3/4 cup)
• 1⁄2-3⁄4 cup butter or 1⁄2-3⁄4 cup margarine
• 2 -3  teaspoons sugar
• 1 -2  teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Place the flour and shortening in a large bowl.
2. Using a pastry cutter, a fork, or your fingers, mix the flour and shortening into pea-sized morsels.
3. Add the milk to the flour and shortening mixture and combine, using a fork. Mix a minimum number of strokes, or for for about 15 seconds.
4. Place the dough onto a hard surface sprinkled liberally with flour.
5. Using floured hands, knead the dough a few times. Do not over-knead.
6. Sprinkle the dough with flour and, using a rolling pin, roll it out to the desired thickness, thin for crispy biscuits and thick for more doughy biscuits.
7. Use a cookie cutter cut out the biscuits and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet about 1 inch apart. Leave a 1 1/2" margin near the edges of the pan on which to place the stickies. Keep the cookie cutter well-coated with flour to prevent sticking.
8. To make stickies, ball up remaining dough left from biscuit cutting. Sprinkle with flour and roll into a very thin layer.
9. Turn the dough over, flour it again, and roll it again. The resulting dough will be flatter and wider than the biscuit dough, about 13-15 inches in diameter.
10. Place triangles of butter or margarine 1 to 1 1/2 inches apart on the dough.
11. Sprinkle dough with sugar. Sprinkle ground cinnamon on top of the sugar.
12. Roll up the dough jelly roll style and cut it into 3/4 inch slices.
13. Place the stickies in the empty space around the edges of the cookie sheet.
14. Bake at 450°F for 12 to 13 minutes or until golden brown.