Cheese and Garlic Buttermilk Biscuits

Remember the Red Lobster knock-off biscuits I posted a while back?  Well these are similar but a million times better because they are homemade - no Bisquick in these babies.  It makes a world of difference, especially when you use butter instead of shortening.  I'll admit that shortening makes the fluffiest biscuits but the buttery taste makes up for that, in my opinion.  These biscuits have the chewy, moistness of cheese and buttermilk with the added bonus of delicious garlic butter brushed on top. I love them - as does my family.  They are perfect for when you want to whip up a quick bread at the last minute to serve with dinner.  I made these to go with Chicken and Quinoa Stew the other night... perfect.   As usual, I caught my hubby eyeing the plate, evaluating which biscuit had the most garlic butter brushed on top!  I won't lie to you, these biscuits aren't particularly healthy (uh, ya right) but they are so worth the splurge!

Cheese and Garlic Buttermilk Biscuits

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), cold
2 cups flour
1 Tb sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
about 3/4 cup buttermilk

2 Tb butter, melted
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp parsley flakes

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.  Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda.  Cut butter into flour mixture using pastry blender or crisscrossing 2 knives, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Stir in cheese then stir in enough buttermilk so dough leaves the sides of the bowl.  Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and knead very lightly until dough forms a soft ball, about 10 times. Do not overwork the dough!  The less you handle the dough, the more fluffy your biscuits.  Roll or pat 1/2 inch thick.  Cut with floured 2 1/2 inch biscuit cutter.  Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.  Mix together melted butter, garlic salt and parsley flakes.  Brush the tops of the warm biscuits with the garlic butter and serve hot.

pumpkin patch biscuits

When I heard about how moist and delicious pumpkin biscuits were, I did a search online and found this fabulous recipe on Taste of Home. We love it around our house! I meant to cut out some cute little pumpkin shaped biscuits this time but at the end I forgot - oh well! This would be a perfect way to use up any leftover pumpkin from baking your pumpkin pies. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone - happy baking!!

Pumpkin Patch Biscuits
submitted by Brittany at The Sisters Cafe

printable recipe here

1 3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup cold butter
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup buttermilk

In a large bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Combine pumpkin and buttermilk; stir into crumb mixture until just moistened. Turn onto lightly floured surface and knead 8-10 times. Pat or roll out to 1 inch thickness; cut with 2 1/2 inch biscuit cutter. (Or cut into squares with a pizza cutter.) Place 1 inch apart on greased baking sheet. Bake in 425 degree preheated oven for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. Brush with melted butter if desired. Serve warm.

Perfect Freezer Biscuits and a little Slice of the South

Hello Friends!
Sorry about the lack of posts, I have had the BIGGEST headaches with my computers lately! My PC has an icky virus that has rendered it useless! I am so sad, I may have to go to the 'Geek Squad' to rescue it because I have done everything I can! And my laptop has given me trouble too! For some reason I have errors in Internet Explorer, because it keeps kicking me off the internet, even though I still have a connection. I wrote this whole post up on Monday and it was all lost:)I have changed to Mozilla Firefox and I am now happily enjoying the internet again! But needless to say, I did not have the time to re write it all until tonight. My boys go back to school tomorrow so it has been BUSY around here! This recipe is perfect for busy school mornings--you can just pull the biscuits out of the freezer and have a warm breakfast for your family in minutes!

This week marks the 1 year anniversary for us living in the south! I thought I would share a little of what I have learned and LOVE about the Southern Culture:

*Everyone has a dining room and love to use it for gatherings and good home cooked food( I really wanted a dining room--and it was hard to find in the West--but not here-lucky me:)

*People go to church every Sunday and pray over every meal...even in a restaurant.

*You always finish with a "mam" or "sir" when you answer a question--happily my boys are starting to pick this up!

*No matter how old you are, parents are always referred to as"Mama" and "Daddy" and children are always "baby" to their parents or anyone for that matter.
*And Southerners LOVE a good biscuit...even all the fast food joints have them on the menu !

And, with that in mind, let me introduce you to a wonderful biscuit recipe from my friend Sheri--not a southerner, but a fabulous cook:)

This biscuit recipe is a favorite of mine because they are tender, moist and I LOVE that you can bake them straight from the freezer. So easy! We love them with butter and jam, but we recently had biscuits and gravy made by our friend Mary Bess--a true southern girl and it was WONDERFUL! I will have to get her recipe so I can share it with you!

Freezer Biscuits
submitted by Melanie
printable recipe here

4 cups flour
2 TBs. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp soda
1/2 cup butter
16oz sour cream
3-5 tsp water

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Cut in butter until there are small well blended pieces. Add sour cream and water, mix well. Knead and roll out to 1 inch thick. Cut with biscuit cutter. Freeze individually on a cookie sheet. When frozen solid, place in a freezer bag to store. When ready to use, place frozen biscuits on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 425 for 15=17 minutes or until top is golden. makes 16-20.

Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits

I love biscuits. I'm not from the South but I still just love biscuits...is that allowed! :) Mom used to whip them up now and then to go with dinner and I would slather them with butter and jam... aahh, yum! This time I wanted to try a new recipe with buttermilk - hoping to find one that was flaky and buttery and delicious. Well I'll tell ya, this one I found on All Recipes is THE winner. It is fantastic!! I think I had about 4 straight out of the oven (I choose not to think about fat grams at times like that). The bit of honey in the ingredients gives them just a hint of sweetness. They are incredibly flaky due to the way you fold the dough over on itself several times - genius! I also think they turned out so well for me this time because I broke my pastry blender so I had to cut the butter into the flour with two knives. I was so bugged with the tediousness of it that I thought I quit a little early since the butter seemed to be in kind of big chunks! Obviously it was just right and to be honest I think I usually cut it in way too much... ok I admit it, I definitely do! I remember Mom telling me often "oh honey, that's a little too much but it's ok - I'm sure it will still be delicious"!! :) So learn from my mistakes and don't cut the butter in too much. Also minimize how much you handle the dough, otherwise you'll end up with tough biscuits!

My poor square little biscuits... I need a round biscuit cutter!!

Deliciously Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits

submitted by Brittany

2 cups all-purpose flour (9 ounces)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup fat-free buttermilk
3 tablespoons honey

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Chill 10 minutes.
3. Combine buttermilk and honey, stirring with a whisk until well blended. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moist.
4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead lightly 4 times. Roll dough into a (1/2-inch-thick) 9 x 5–inch rectangle; dust top of dough with flour. Fold dough crosswise into thirds (as if folding a piece of paper to fit into an envelope). Reroll dough into a (1/2-inch-thick) 9 x 5–inch rectangle; dust top of dough with flour. Fold dough crosswise into thirds; gently roll or pat to a 3/4-inch thickness. Cut dough with a 1 3/4-inch biscuit cutter to form 14 dough rounds. Place dough rounds, 1 inch apart, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 400° for 12 minutes or until golden. Remove from pan; cool 2 minutes on wire racks. Serve warm.

Garlic Cheese Biscuits

I never used to buy Bisquick mix until Erin introduced me to these biscuits...now I always have some on hand specifically for this! The recipe is so easy, it's ridiculous. They definitely aren't healthy so I don't make them often, but when I do... what a treat!!Garlic Cheese Biscuits
submitted by Brittany

2 c Bisquick mix

2/3 c milk
1/2 c sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

1/4 c butter, melted

1/4 tsp garlic salt

1/4 tsp dried parsley

Mix together Bisquick and milk just until moistened. Fold in cheese. Drop by spoonfuls on lightly greased cookie sheet (I use a preheated pizza stone plain). Bake at 450 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Combine melted butter with garlic salt and parsley and brush over each biscuit. Serve immediately. **note that when using a pizza stone, make sure you remove biscuits to a plate before brushing with butter - otherwise the stone will soak up a lot of it!