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.
Ok. So I started making these several years ago when I first started following Our Best Best ( it was right after I got married and I give y’all some credit for me learning how to cook). Anyway, I’m sure that was a run-on sentence. I accidentally doubled the cheese in this recipe, and it was so good that I doubled it everything after that! I haven’t made them in a long time, and they just came to mind yesterday. I’m pairing them with chicken spaghetti. It deserves another spotlight on your site. Thanks for all you do and sharing your great recipes!
made these for dinner, LOVED THEM! I didn’t even need a kitchenaid. Very simple to make!
My mom makes these and I LOVE them!!!!!
I just made them tonight. They look wonderful… But I’m wondering if I did something wrong, because they had a little bitter taste to them. Any ideas? I followed your directions to a T. Love your blog and your recipes!!!
No idea Brandy- maybe you have a bad batch of baking powder?
We are expecting a foot of snow here in Maine today so it seemed like a good day for Beef Stew & Biscuits. These are in the oven right now and they smell YUMMY! I threw in some gahlick and chopped parsley and used Bakewell Cream instead of the BP.(not sure if you can buy it outside of New England but it makes biscuits outrageously tall). Thanks for the recipe!
I'm going to make these (with garlic) for Superbowl Sunday to take to my boyfriend's house for our "party". (:
I'm going to be using a few of the recipes on this site, too. (:
Thanks for the post. These look delish!
I can't make a recipe with out altering it… here is what I did:
*Added 2 chopped green onions
*Reduced butter to only 1/2 cup
*Discovered 1 tsp of kosher salt was TOOO much salt for only 2 cups of flour…next time I will only use 1/2 tsp of salt.
*rather than wasting time to roll them out, I just dropped a large spoonfull of dough onto a baking sheet. Rolling out the dough and adding more flour will make the biscuits tough.
Your recipe made a good biscuit…just way too salty!
These are the best things I have laid my eyes on!!!
Denise- that would be just fine, I bet it would taste yummy!
What would happen if you were to throw in some garlic salt instead of Kosher salt? Would it affect the rising of the bread?
Oh liso- that extra egg with 1T milk is for the egg wash. Sorry if that wasn't clear, I'll make it more clear in the ingredient list so people don't dump that in the dough!
Made these as part of my Easter brunch. and yep, they were delicious! …i totally echo the NEED for sharp cheddar in these – they were divine…
one little thing: I think in your shortened recipe ingredients section at the end, there's an extra egg maybe? and it said to have it mixed with just a T of the milk? not sure if I'm just reading that wrong…
I sprinkled your garlic bread topping on these…so good!
These were delicious! I tried them last week and was able to make them in no time. I had tried making a different biscuit recipe before and they turned out like hockey pucks, so I was a bit nervous making these. They were so easy to make, though and came out delicious!