Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Ingredients

For the biscuits

3 cups all purpose flour, spooned and leveled

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup butter, cold (1 stick)

1 cup buttermilk, you can use whole milk instead

1 large egg

2 cups packed, 8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese

For the garlic butter topping

1/4 cup butter, melted (half stick)

1 clove garlic, smashed and minced*

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.

Start by grating your cheese. You will need 2 cups packed, about 8 ounces. Packed means you have to press it down pretty well into your measuring cup! Once it’s all grated, stick it in the fridge so that it stays cold while you mix up the biscuits. Cold biscuit dough going into a hot oven is what makes flaky layers.

In a large bowl, whisk together 3 cups flour, 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, and 1 teaspoon kosher salt.

Add 1/2 cup cold butter that has been cut into chunks. Use a pastry cutter to cut in the butter. You can use a fork if you don’t have a pastry cutter. You want to leave some pea-size pieces of butter, see photos.

In a glass measuring cup, add 1 cup buttermilk. Crack in one egg and whisk is together.

Pour the liquid over the dry ingredients and stir together with a rubber spatula.

Add in the cold shredded cheddar cheese and stir it together. Coat your hands with flour and knead it together if the spatula can’t handle it.

At this point, you can form these into drop biscuits. See notes!

To roll out the dough, prepare a work surface by sprinkling flour generously. Coat your hands with flour and transfer the dough to the floured surface. Knead it together a couple times if it hasn’t come together in a ball.

Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a large rectangle, about 12×16 inches. It doesn’t have to be exact.

Turn the dough over so the seam is on the bottom. Pat or roll out the dough again until it is about an inch thick. Thick biscuit dough makes thick biscuits!

Use a 2 and 1/2 inch biscuit cutter to cut into biscuits. Do not twist the cutter as you press down, this inhibits rising in the oven. Just push straight down.

Place the biscuits close together (they should be touching. This helps them rise tall) in a 9×13 inch pan, or you can place them in the center of a normal baking sheet (touching each other). I used a 10 inch cast iron pan in the photos above, but was only able to fit 12 of the biscuits (I shaped the rest into drop biscuits.) Use a 9×13 inch pan or a baking sheet to fit all 18-20 biscuits.

Brush each biscuit with buttermilk. (or you can brush with milk, cream, or half and half. It helps them brown.)

Bake in the preheated 425 degree oven for 15-18 minutes. The edges of the biscuits should be golden brown. If you are unsure if they are done, you can always insert a toothpick to the center to make sure it comes out with no batter on it. Be careful not to over bake; these biscuits tend to look a little under baked because of all the cheese on the edges. It looks like gooey dough but it’s actually gooey cheese.

While the biscuits are in the oven, make the garlic butter topping. Melt 1/4 cup butter in a small bowl. Stir in 1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley (you can sub 2 teaspoons dried parsley) and 1 clove garlic*, smashed and minced. Brush each biscuit with the butter mixture just after coming out of the oven.

Store these sealed tightly on the counter for up to 3 days. After that, put them in the fridge.

FREEZER: Biscuits are great for freezing. You can freeze the finished biscuits: let thaw in the sealed container at room temperature, then microwave or warm in the oven at 350 for 5 minutes.

You can also freeze the biscuits after you have shaped them but before baking (don’t brush with buttermilk). Freeze unbaked biscuits in a sealed container (ziplock is fine). You can bake them straight from frozen. Brush frozen biscuits with buttermilk and bake as instructed, adding 2-5 minutes to the bake time.