MASA BISCUITS (Fran Rich)

3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups masa corn flour
2 Tbs. + 1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 stick unsalted butter, chilled, cut into small pieces
½ cup solid vegetable shortening, chilled, cut into small pieces
2 cups cultured buttermilk, chilled

Position racks in upper and middle thirds of oven and preheat 450F. In a large bowl, stir together 3 ½ cups of the flour, masa, baking powder, and salt. With a pastry cutter, blend in butter and shortening until mixture resembles a coarse and slightly lumpy meal. Stir in buttermilk until a soft, crumbly dough is formed. Sprinkle work surface with half the remaining flour. Turn dough out, gather into a ball, and briefly knead, just until it holds together. Flatten dough, sprinkle with rest of flour, and roll out about 1-inch thick. With a round 3-inch cutter, form biscuits, transferring them to 2 ungreased baking sheets and spacing about 2" apart. Gather scraps into a ball, roll out to 1-inch thick, and cut out remaining biscuits. Makes 12 large biscuits. (Fran's notes: I used a 1 ¾" biscuit cutter for tiny appetizer size biscuits. These are especially good with jalapeno jelly.)