Biscuits Supreme

I've made biscuits a lot.  I have used the recipe my mother always used.  I have used the recipe that my father-in-law uses.  I have used this recipe.  All to yield mediocre biscuits.  Then, a couple days ago, I once again made biscuits to go with my beef stew.  I used the Biscuits Supreme recipe (it's the best of the three, for me) that I got out of my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.
This time they were all flaky and light - just the way they should be.  What did I do differently??  Was it repeatable?? 
I made them again today, just to make sure that it wasn't a fluke, and they turned out even better!!  Tall and light and flaky.  Wow!! 
Here's what I did differently.  I used unbleached flour (I don't think that really made a difference).  I cut up my stick of butter, fresh out of the fridge, into 16 or so pieces and stirred them into the dry ingredients (so they weren't all stuck together) and then let it sit on the counter for 20-30 minutes while I worked on the rest of dinner prep.  Then I cut the butter in, like normal and added the milk.  I stirred it up until the milk wasn't all soupy and sticky, but there was still lots of loose flour/butter mixture.  Then it all got dumped on the counter and "kneaded" (really folded over and pressed together for the 8-10 times the recipe instructs.  Then I pressed the dough out with my hands (no rolling pin) and cut them out. 

And the recipe:
Biscuits Supreme
450 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
Yield 10-12 biscuits
Time start to finish: 45 minutes to 1 hour

2 cups flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 t cream of tartar
1/4 t salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2/3 c milk

Here are the instructions from the recipe.  What I did differently is above.
Combine the dry, then cut in butter till coarse crumbs.  Add 2/3 c milk.  Stir till moist.  Knead 10-12 strokes.  Pat out to 1/2 inch think.  Cut with 2 1/2 inch cutter.  Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheet.