Preheat your oven to 500 degrees.
Using your fingers, work the shortening in with the flour in a large bowl until the flour appears crumbly, about the size of little peas. Stir in the buttermilk with a wooden spoon. Start with 3/4 cup & add a little more if need be.
Lightly dust your countertop with a little flour.
Now, here is when the pizza cutter comes in! Pat the dough down into a neat rectangle – no reason to do any kneading really. Using a pizza cutter, slice the biscuits into 6-8 squares. Place the biscuits into a greased cast iron pan or if you don’t have one, a round cake pan or casserole dish will do, with the sides of the biscuits just touching.
Melt 3 tablespoons of butter & pour that on top of the biscuits (optional). Bake for about 12-15 minutes, until lightly browned.
Melt a couple more tablespoons of butter & brush that on top of the freshly baked biscuits, if desired.
Eat them all at one sitting. Bake another batch. Repeat.