Ya know, I hesitate to post yet another bread recipe because Kate and I aren’t too big on carbs…
Hahahahahaha. Psych. (Remember when it was cool to say that?) We’re pretty much obsessed with carbs. And my obsession only increases with pregnancy. Some people luck out and crave things like oranges and water. (Who ARE you mutants anyway?) All I want to eat is bread. And baked potatoes. And pasta. Toss in some cookies. And then some more bread. I call it the “How to gain 50 lbs in 10 months” diet. Thinking about writing a book…
But I know there are lots of fellow carb lovers out there, and what’s not to love?? They make some of the best (and easiest) side dishes around. Like these Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits for example. They don’t take long at all to whip up and they are SO heavenly delicious. They’re perfect for breakfast or brunch, with soup, or as a yummy side at pretty much any bbq. (Totally pairing these with babyback ribs, grilled corn, and fresh lemonade come summer time!)
Try them out! Let’s cook…
Pretty basic ingredients here. One of the tricks for good biscuits is to make sure all of your ingredients are COLD.
Before you mix up your dry ingredients, take a spoonful of your flour and mix it with your grated cheese.
This will prevent the cheese from sticking to itself and then it helps distribute it throughout the dough.
Start by combining the flour, baking powder (a whole tablespoon of it!) and salt. Then cut your cold butter into chunks and cut it into the dry mixture.
(What the heck does that mean? Click here to find out.) You can use one of these options, including popping it all in a stand mixer like I’m doing in these photos. The trick with the stand mixer is to not over-beat it. You want the butter in pieces the size of peas. If you over-mix it will quickly turn into crumbs. It won’t be ruined, but your biscuits won’t rise as well. (Confession: I totally over-mixed in these photos. It’s not my fault. I swear the moment I have something I need to keep my eyes on, my children decide it’s a good time to start the house on fire or something.)
Once the butter is the size of small peas (ya know, as opposed to really large peas…) add in the buttermilk and the egg.
Mix it until JUST combined. Don’t over-mix!
Then add in that grated cheese. Even if you don’t like plain sharp cheese, it’s SO much better to use sharp cheddar in things like this because it allows the cheese flavor to come through. You probably won’t be able to really taste the cheese if you use a plain, mild cheddar. The extra-sharp in this recipe tastes amazing.
Once again, mix just until combined. Are you noticing a trend here, need I say it one last time, don’t over-mix!
If your dough is really wet, you can add a little more flour at this point. Just be careful to not add too much. You’re going to add more when you shape it so don’t be scared if the dough is on the soft side.
Turn it out onto a floured work surface. Flour all sides lightly. If you need to, add enough flour for the dough to hold together.
Roll it out into a rectangle about 10 x 5 inches.
Cut it once down the middle and then 3 times down the other direction like in the picture below. These are actually really large biscuits, you can easily make 2 cuts instead of that one lengthwise and get 12 biscuits.
Spread out the biscuits on parchment paper
Give them a quick egg wash and then bake them up! They’ll get even taller than they appear in my photos if you don’t over-mix them like I did 🙂
And the insides are airy, light, and perfectly flaky.
Ina Garten served these for brunch with scrambled eggs. That combo would be heavenly! As I mentioned before, they’d also make a perfect accompaniment to soup or a back yard bbq meal.
Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits
adapted from Ina Garten
2 C flour, plus more as needed
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 C real butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1/2 C buttermilk
1 large or extra larg egg
1 C grated extra sharp cheddar cheese
Egg Wash: 1 egg, beaten with 1 T water or milk
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Measure out 2 Cups of flour and then remove a spoonful of it and mix it with your grated cheese. Set floured cheese aside.
Dump out onto a well-floured board and knead lightly 3-4 times. Roll the dough out to a rectangle about 10 by 5 inches. With a sharp, floured knife, cut the dough lengthwise in half and then across in quarters, making 8 rough rectangles. If preferred, cut to make 12 smaller biscuits. Transfer to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
Brush the tops with the egg wash, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are golden brown and the biscuits are cooked through. Serve hot or warm.
I made these tonight, to accompany a delicious gazpacho recipe my dad and I found on the internet, they were delicious! So easy and fun to make! I am in college, so I find myself baking deprived whenever I come home on breaks, so this hit just the spot! My brother compared them to Red Lobster's cheddar bay biscuits.
One thing that made my life easier is that I used a floured pizza cutter (the wheel kind) to cut the dough, and I was able to get 16 good sized biscuits out of the recipe.
I dunno Annie, but if they tasted good and looked fine, then hey, lucky you!
I made these tonight and they were a big hit, but am I the only one who wasn't able to bake them for the whole length of time? I put mine in and after 10-12 minutes they were done.
Did I just totally screw something up?
YUM. I made these tonight and added two large cloves of garlic. They were FABULOUS.
Kristen- the stand mixer is actually the option I use the least when it comes to cutting in butter. It's super easy actually- check out the link I mentioned that has a great how-to with lots of options (including just using your fingers- that's what I would do if I didn't have any equipment)
https://ourbestbites.com/2008/05/cutting-in-butter.html
I just made these and am waiting for them to get out of the oven. This is my first time making homemade biscuits and it was definitely more difficult than I thought. I don't have a stand mixer and had flour flying everywhere with my hand mixer. Couldn't get the butter into small enough bits. I ended up adding and extra egg as well because it was not sticky at all when I tried to roll into a ball. But, I used large eggs rather than extra large, so maybe that is the problem…Anyway, I hope they taste good. Any suggestions for those of us who don't have a stand mixer?
I have tried several recipes from your site and they have ALL been fabulous, but these biscuits…these biscuits are…I just don't have the words. These biscuits are AMAZING! I used extra sharp white cheddar and made them to go with Pioneer Woman's Sherried Tomato Soup. Thank you so much for all the great recipes, especially this one! Love your site!
I totally loving those squareish biscuits!
When you write that book… can you dedicate it to me? hehehehe I promise to buy at least 100 copies and share them with all my carb addicted friends!
HUGS girls!
Yum! These looked so good that I went ahead and whipped up a batch for lunch. Definitely a keeper!
i'm the exact same way when I'm pregnant! except you left out 2 things: taco bell bean burritos and chocolate!!
can't wait to try the biscuits. . .
These were oh so good…thanks for sharing!
Aaaahhhh these look amazing!!!
I love bread, so I can't wait to try these. Thanks for sharing. Love & blessings from NC!
So, ummmmm….
I made these for dinner today since I have some random buttermilk in the fridge (from your Buttermilk Pancakes). WOW! I felt like a GENIUS when we were eating these biscuits. The directions were right on and set me up for real success. They were so delicious!
By the way, I didn't have any real butter so I used margarine and they were still great. Just for future reference, why do you recommend real butter?
GREAT recipe. Easy and really fast.
– Candra
Two strikes against me! Cheese and carbs!! this sounds so great. Plus so simple!!!
I love cheese biscuits! They look so delicious!
That's what I thought, but I wanted to check. Thanks!
Oh dear, yet another recipe i am going to have to try! These look so good. You can't go wrong with cheese and bread!
Ummm. WOW!!! My greedy eyeball just popped out.
Megan- You can definitely use a round cutter. Doing them in rectangles just makes it quick and easy, but if you don't mind doing the cut-roll-cut-roll thing, go for it!
Linda- Thank you! DEFINITELY baking *powder*! I'll go fix that.
knitwych- great tip, thanks for sharing!
mmmmyeah, now I'm drooling all over my keyboard! If only I'd had a batch of these babies while I was eating my scrambled eggs with cheese this morning…
Little tip for those who use stand mixers – if you put your to-be-added dry or grated ingredients on a paper plate or a flexible cutting board, you can bend the plate/board slightly to conform to the edge of the bowl and tip the ingredients in. This has saved me from having to clean up many a mess on the countertop.
These look absolutely delicious.
I'll definitely be trying these! They look amazing!
Thanks
You have baking soda listed in the directions on top and baking powder listed in the recipe. Which one should I use? These look fabulous. I agree, I think they would be great with ribs. But what isn't great with ribs?
These look wonderful. I think I will be making them this week!
Yummy! Yummy! Yummy!
OK, these look seriously amazingly delish. Seriously. I'm thinking I could use this idea with my own biscuit mix recipe (shameless self promotion coming up… wait for it… wait for it…)
I posted about it here: http://tomatosoupcake.blogspot.com/2010/02/biscuit-mix-basics.html
if you happen to be interested or anything. So yeah.
Just checking — is there any reason these couldn't be cut with a round cutter? I don't know why, but when I make biscuits, I like them round.
These look delicious, and I can't wait to try them!
oh yeah, these are gonna be made this week. maybe i'll share with my family. if I add a clove or two of garlic I bet they'll taste just like the ones at Red lobster!
The biscuit dough looks absolutely amazing!! Wow. I'm bookmarking this recipe. I love the process photos.