3-CHEESE BUTTERMILK BISCUITS
Before we close out 2020 and rush off to stock up on grapefruit, boneless skinless chicken breasts and start another fad diet, I’m going to make as many indulgent things as possible. Like these biscuits. Make them and everyone will ooh and aah as they are eating them, I promise.
This is kind of a cross between a biscuit and a cheese wafer. Crunchy on the bottom and fluffy in the middle. Eat them as-is or fill with country ham, sausage or bacon. The best part is, these biscuits can be made ahead or even frozen before baking.
I use a pastry cutter for this recipe. It really does make a difference from using a food processor or mixer to combine the flour and butter. Alternately, you could use your fingers to break up the butter and mix with the flour, but I would recommend chilling it afterwards in the fridge for 10-15 minutes. Also, I like to use a square cookie cutter so that I waste as little dough as possible. You don’t want to re-roll the dough any more than once while cutting out your biscuits. You could also cut squares with a knife, or use a round cookie cutter.
Makes around 9-10 biscuits.
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups all-purpose flour ( I prefer White Lily)
1 tbsp. baking powder
2 tsp. kosher salt* (see note)
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, small dice
3/4 Cup buttermilk, full fat
1 large egg
1 cup total of the following cheeses* (see note)
-2 ounces gruyere, grated
-1 ounce manchego, grated
-1 ounce parmesana regiano, grated
5-6 grinds fresh black pepper
1 tbsp. melted unsalted butter
Flake salt
Note about salt: Not all kosher salts are created equally. I use Diamond Crystals. If you’re using Morton’s, which is more readily available in most grocery stores, it’s saltier so only use 1 tsp.
Note about cheeses: You can use any hard cheeses here, but this is a particularly good combo. If you just want one cheese, choose all gruyere or you could use sharp cheddar.
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place the diced butter on a plate and place in the freezer while you prep the rest of the ingredients.
To a large mixing bowl add the flour, salt & baking powder and stir with a whisk. This is easier than sifting. Set aside.
Measure the buttermilk in a measuring glass, add the egg and whisk together. Place back in the fridge until ready to use.
Add the butter to the flour mixture and blend it in with the pastry cutter until it is broken up into smaller pieces. It’s okay if they aren’t all the same size. Add the cheese and black pepper to the flour and toss gently. Then, add the buttermilk egg mixture to the flour and mix it in very gently with your hands. If you want, you can spray cooking spray on your hand before mixing to make it less messy. Don’t over mix! You just want it all to come together.
Lightly flour your countertop and dump the biscuit dough on top. Sprinkle top with a little more flour and flour a rolling pin. Gently roll out into a rectangular shape to about 1/2” thick, turning the dough often so that it doesn’t stick to the countertop. With a 2 1/2” square cookie cutter, cut out biscuits as close to the edge and as close together as possible so that you don’t waste a lot of dough. Don’t twist the cookie cutter, (Edna Lewis taught us that) as it will make the biscuits tough. I don’t know if this is true or not, but I trust Edna Lewis. Take the scraps of dough and form into a round disk and cut out another biscuit, or if it’s too small just bake the disk along with the other biscuits.
Place biscuits on a parchment lined baking sheet and brush with the melted butter. From here, you could place the sheet pan in the freezer to freeze the biscuits and then store in a plastic bag. Or, you can store in the fridge, covered with plastic wrap, and bake up until the next day. Or, you can top with the flake salt and bake right away. I baked these for exactly 25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through so that the biscuits in the back were in the front. Ovens vary, so keep an eye on them after 20 minutes. Serve warm from the oven.
Or stuffed with delicious meat….
