Recipe contributed by Maureen Gualtieri
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
A basket of hot, savoury biscuits is a welcome addition to any table, next to a bowl of soup, a roast, or a hearty chili! These pillowy, buttery delights are so easy you can even put them together for a lazy weekend breakfast; topped with a crisp-fried egg and a slice of ham, their subtle BBQ flavour makes for delightful sandwiches.
The biscuits are really best freshly baked — If you can’t manage to eat six (!) of them in one day, the raw, cut biscuits can be frozen. Just add a couple minutes to the baking time and put them in the oven straight from the freezer.
Original Spicy Cheddar Chive Biscuits
(Yield: 6 large biscuits)
Ingredients:
2.5 c. all-purpose flour
2 scant tsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp table salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
1/4 c. fresh chives, finely chopped
3/4 c. sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 c unsalted butter, softened
2 tbsp DFC’s Original Spicy BBQ sauce
3/4 c. buttermilk
At least one hour in advance of making your biscuits, cream together the unsalted butter and DFC’s Original Spicy BBQ sauce until uniformly incorporated. Pat the butter mixture out onto a small plate and refrigerate until thoroughly cold. (Do this the night before if you are planning breakfast biscuits.)
When you’re ready to go, heat your oven to 400 degrees F, and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda, black pepper, and grated cheese.
Cut your refrigerated butter mixture into chunks, and dump them into the flour mixture. Begin working the butter into the flour with the tips of your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Pour in the buttermilk and stir with a spoon until a shaggy dough develops. Once this happens, get in there with your hands and knead the dough in the bowl a couple of times until it really comes together. (You don’t want to overwork it, which will lead to tough biscuits — but you don’t want to underwork it either and have it fall apart. Think significantly less kneading than a pizza dough, but more than a pie crust.)
Turn the dough out onto a floured counter, and pat out until it’s about 3/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Using a sharp knife, cut the edges off the dough mass, and then cut what’s left into six even pieces, either with the knife or a circular cookie cutter. (I prefer the knife method: It makes for a more rustic squarish shape, and it minimizes messing around with scraps…) Whichever tool you use, make sure you don’t saw or twist as you cut — that will stick your edges together and prevent the flaky layers from lifting. Just cut straight down, and straight-up!
Pop your now-formed biscuits onto your prepped baking sheet, with at least 2 inches between each. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until raised and deeply golden.
Cool for 5 minutes or so, then split open and enjoy with a smear of butter, or top with a fried egg, sliced ham, and one of DFC’s mustards for a breakfast sammie!
