The Basics: Biscuits

Cheddar and Chive Biscuits

Making biscuits is similar to making pie crust -- you need cold butter to achieve flaky biscuits (just like with pie crust). Of course, the flakiest pie crusts and biscuits are made with shortening or lard but the best tasting ones are made with butter. If you want, you can substitute half of butter for lard (as a rule, I do not use shortening) for either biscuits or pie crust. 

These biscuits are made with white whole wheat flour, making them a little more dense. You can use all white flour, that's fine. You may need to decrease the amount of butter milk to 3/4 cup since whole wheat flour absorbs more moisture than white flour. 

Even though I added cheddar and chives to the recipe, you can either omit these items or add your own herb and cheese combination. Goat cheese and rosemary sounds like a good combination if you ask me and serve with roasted lamb chops. Seriously, that sounds really damn good. 

But I digress...

It's time to step into the kitchen and make biscuits for a Sunday morning treat. Your family will love you even more. 

Cheddar and Chive Biscuits
Yield: about 1 dozen

• 1 cup all purpose white flour
  
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour
  
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
  
• 1 teaspoon sugar
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
  
• 1/2 cup (1 stick; 4 oz) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
  
• 1 cup cold buttermilk
  
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
  

Preheat oven to 425ºF. 

In a bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. Add the cubed butter and with a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Stir in the buttermilk. Mix until dough starts to form. Add the cheese and chives; mix to combine. 

Form the dough into a ball and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll to about a 1/2 inch thick. Using a biscuit cutter, cut into shapes and place on a baking sheet. Reroll the dough until you use it all up. The last biscuit will look a little wonky but that's ok. They all don't have to be perfect.

Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly on a wire rack. Biscuits are best served slightly warm with a pad of butter. 

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