Cheddar Biscuits
Buttery biscuits are so delicious and they are very easy to make. I remember for the longest time I used to be intimidated to try out baking, but then after I made my first batch of fresh buttermilk biscuits, there was no turning back. I have been baking biscuits for years now and seem to bake at least one batch a week.
Every once in a while, I throw in some grated cheese into the biscuit dough. As great as biscuits are, cheesy biscuits are even better! This cheddar biscuits recipe is simple and so incredible.
While I love biscuits on their own, they are also amazing alongside a bowl of warm hearty stew or chili. Dipping the biscuit into a bowl of stew is such a wonderful thing!
Tips for baking the best biscuits.
- Sift the flour first. This ensures that there are no clumps of flour and helps the biscuit be light and fluffy.
- Make sure that the lard or butter that you use is cold. This keeps little pea sized bits of the fat in the dough which results in a flakier biscuit.
- Do no overmix! Stir with your hands gently. Over-mixing will result in a dense and flat biscuit.
- Do not over-bake the biscuit.
After the flour is sifted and whisked with the baking powder, baking soda and salt, the lard or butter and cheese can be cut into the flour. Either lard or butter works very well when making biscuits.
Adding the cheese can be done either before or after you cut in the lard/butter. Since I use pre-grated cheese that I purchase in a bag, I find that the strips of cheese are on the larger size. Therefore, I prefer to add the cheese before I use the pastry cutter and the cheese breaks down to smaller sizes while I am cutting in the lard/butter. If you grate your own cheese, you may want to stir in the cheese at the same time that the milk is added.
Make sure to cut the cold lard/butter very well into the flour. You want to make sure that there are no big chunks of the fat but instead that there are small evenly sized pieces intermixed with the flour.
Once the lard/butter is evenly cut into the flour, pour in the milk.
Use your hands to gently stir the milk into the dry ingredients.
Continue to stir with your hands to incorporate the milk into the dry ingredients. Keep stirring until all the little dry pockets of flour are mixed in and the biscuit dough is an even consistency.
You are looking for a biscuit dough that is not sticky. If needed, sprinkle in a little extra flour and gently mix it with the rest of the dough until it is no longer sticking to your hands or the sides of the bowl.
Place the biscuit dough on a lightly floured surface.
Using your hand, pat the dough down to a thickness of 3/4 inch thick.
Using a round biscuit or cookie cutter, cut out the biscuits.
Once you cut out some biscuits, gently lift them out. The floured surface should prevent the dough from sticking to the surface. Once you have cut out all the biscuits that you can, form the remaining dough back into a ball. Flatten that remaining dough and cut out some more biscuits until there is not enough dough left to form a biscuit.
Place the cut out biscuit dough onto a baking sheet. You can line the baking sheet with a silicone sheet or parchment paper, if desired.
Bake the biscuits in a 400F oven for 16 minutes or until the biscuits have risen and puffed up and started to brown on the top and sides. Once finished, the biscuits are ready to be served. They are best warm.
If desired, you can brush the biscuits with some melted butter that has been stirred with a pinch of garlic powder. Adding this melted garlic butter on top of the biscuits makes them taste quite similar to the Cheddar Bay Biscuits you can get at Red Lobster. So good!!
If you are interested in some other types of biscuits and scones, then check out these recipes!
Cheddar Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup cold lard or butter
- 1 1/3 cup grated cheddar cheese
- 1 cup milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
- Using a pastry blender, cut in the lard/butter and grated cheddar cheese, until well incorporated into the dry ingredients and there are small little bits of the butter/lard throughout the flour.
- Pour in the milk and using your hands, gently mix together to incorporate the milk into the dry ingredients to make the biscuit batter. Be careful not to overmix the batter.
- Pat onto a floured surface to an even thickness of around 3/4-1 inch thick. Using a circle biscuit cutter, cut out biscuits and place on a baking sheet.
- Bake in the 400F oven for 16 minutes, or until they just start to brown.
- Cool on a wire rack.
Nutrition
Per serving:
