Biscuits amped with Cheddar and rosemary are quick and easy to make on a weeknight and are also special occasion worthy. With flavors of garlic, sharp Cheddar, and herbs, they are savory and delightful for brunch or enjoy them with a hearty stew or soup.
You'll love them as a tender drop biscuit on busy evenings. For holidays or weekends, it's almost as speedy to pat out the dough and cut neat rounds that bake up tall and fluffy.
Either way, the aroma of these morsels in the oven will draw anyone and everyone to the kitchen--just like you planned!
They're great for family-and-friend gatherings!
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Ingredients
- Milk
- White vinegar
- Whole-wheat pastry flour or white whole-wheat flour
- All-purpose flour (unbleached)
- Baking powder
- Garlic powder (optional)
- Salt
- Butter-flavor shortening (or butter)
- Honey
- Sharp Cheddar cheese
- Dried or fresh rosemary
Milk: Use your favorite kind. I like ultrafiltered dairy milk from fairlife® or a store brand like MooTopia®because it's lactose-free, has less sugar, and more calcium and protein. Almond milk would be good in this recipe too.
Vinegar: It doesn't have to be white, but its purpose is to sour the milk. If you don't have buttermilk in your house (and I never do), this is a great fake, er substitute.
Flour: I like to use a combo of refined and whole-wheat so that the biscuits have a nice lightness. Whole-wheat pastry flour is especially good because it's a softer flour with less protein than most whole-wheat flour.
You could also choose gluten-free flour if you're sensitive to gluten proteins.
Baking powder: Helps the biscuits fluff and rise.
Garlic powder and salt: Both are for flavor. You can leave out or reduce the salt if you're watching your sodium intake. The garlic powder adds deliciousness!
Butter-flavor shortening: A long time ago, biscuits were usually made with shortening (or lard). Today's shortening has been reformulated to have less saturated fat than butter and it helps with dough handling.
Of course, you can use butter if you prefer.
Honey: Adds a touch of sweetness that offsets the harsh taste of the baking powder.
Sharp Cheddar cheese: It melts beautifully into the biscuits and has so much yum! But, any grated hard cheese will be fine in the recipe. Use whatever you've got on hand.
Rosemary: In testing, both dried and fresh rosemary were very tasty with the fresh having a small edge over the dried. For a special occasion, choose fresh if it's available (like in your backyard).
You could also use a different herb. Chives have a great flavor when paired with sharp Cheddar.
How to Make
After washing your hands, set the oven to 425 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
(Note: The recipe card at the end of the blog has full baking instructions.)
Add the vinegar to the milk and set it aside to sour.
Whisk all dry ingredients together in a medium to a large bowl. (This includes the dry rosemary if you're not using fresh.)
Cut the shortening into the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter or a couple of knives. You can also use the food processor, but be careful not to over-process. Although you want your mixture to look slightly sandy, there should be some lumpy pieces.
It should NOT resemble fine sand!
Add the honey to the milk and beat to combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour-fat mixture and combine with a spatula until no dry spots remain.
Add a large part of the grated sharp Cheddar and chopped fresh rosemary (if using). Be sure and save enough Cheddar for topping the biscuits.
Using an ice cream scoop, plop rough mounds of dough on your lined cookie sheet about an inch apart. Top each mound with more grated Cheddar.
Credit: Jani H. Leuschel
You can also turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead very lightly, folding the dough onto itself a couple of times. Then, pat it out to about 2" thickness.
Use a small round jar or cookie cutter to cut round shapes. (Dip the edge of the cutter in flour before using on the dough.)
Bake for about 15 minutes, until the cheese is melted on top and the biscuits are lightly golden.
How to store biscuits
The biscuits will keep at room temperature for two to three days. After that, they should be frozen.
They will keep in the freezer for about a month.
Like all biscuits, Rosemary Cheddar Biscuits taste best when eaten soon after baking. They are especially irresistible when offered warm from the oven.
Making biscuits ahead of time ⌚
If you want to make them ahead, it's best to roll the dough and cut out biscuit rounds.
Place each unbaked biscuit on a parchment-lined baking sheet and place it in the freezer. After they are frozen, pull the baking sheet out of the freezer and drop the rounds into a zip bag or storage container.
🧊 Bake the frozen biscuits as needed. Of course, when baking from frozen, they will need more oven time.
Cooking and handling tips
Keep your shortening frozen! After cutting it into small cubes, return it to the freezer until you are ready to add to the dry ingredients.
If you want to cut rounds, don't use a rolling pin on the dough. Kneading it lightly, just until it holds together. Then, press it flat and fold it. Do this two to five times and then pat it out to about a 2" thickness and cut your biscuits.
Creating layers helps the biscuits get tall and fluffy, but too much kneading, folding, and handling equals denser biscuits.
When cutting out, do not twist. Flour the edges of the cutter and apply with a straight up and down motion. Twisting the cutter seals the dough edges and results in flatter biscuits.
💪🏽Nutrition benefits and bonuses
Rosemary Cheddar Biscuits are low in saturated fat when made with shortening and are a good source of calcium. Calcium is a nutrient often lacking in what we eat!
They also offer B vitamins, as well as a bit of protein and iron.
FAQs
- Should I use baking powder or baking soda?
Baking powder combines baking soda with an acid to get baked goods to rise and fluff. Biscuits are traditionally made with baking powder. You may even hear someone say they make "Baking Powder Biscuits."
Adding buttermilk, or as in this biscuit recipe, milk plus vinegar, will encourage tenderness and rising with less baking powder.
You can substitute the combination of baking soda with cream of tartar if you like the taste better or you're out of baking powder.
- Is buttermilk better for biscuits?
It helps make them tender and fluffy, but you can use regular milk soured with 2 teaspoons of vinegar per cup if you don't have any in your fridge.
- What makes a biscuit fluffy?
First, keep your fat (shortening or butter) very cold and try to prevent it from melting into the flour when you combine the two.
Second, use flour that is softer and has a lower protein content.
Third, use an acidic dairy ingredient like sour milk, buttermilk, or yogurt.
Fourth, when cutting out biscuits knead the dough just enough so it holds together. Then, fold it no more than a few times. Folding and creating layers will help your biscuits rise. But, you don't want to fold too many times.
Finally, use a straight up-and-down motion as you cut out the biscuits. Be careful not to twist the cutter. Also, dip it in flour before using it.
💀 Safety tips for baking
Although it may seem as though there is not any way you could get into trouble with these biscuits since the dough has no egg, you should not sample the dough before baking.
Flour is a raw ingredient and has caused cases of E. coli in the last few years.
What to serve with your biscuits
Biscuits are agreeable to all sorts of meals. Of course, these savory gems are suitable for brunch alongside egg dishes and strips of bacon or sausage.
A basket of Rosemary Cheddar biscuits on a holiday brunch table makes a gorgeous addition.
They're also yummy with soups, like Corn and Sausage Chowder, Mushroom Barley Soup, or Pozole Rojo y Verde.
And you can't go wrong serving them with any sort of chili, from a vegetarian sweet potato and black bean to a hearty and traditional bowl of red.
Rosemary Cheddar Drop Biscuits
Equipment
- large bowl
- large glass measuring cup
- spatula
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk, 2% dairy, almond, soy, or oat milk
- 2 teaspoons vinegar
- 1 cup white flour, unbleached all-purpose
- 1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour, or white whole wheat flour
- 1 Tablespoon dried rosemary, crumbled, or use 3 Tablespoons fresh, chopped
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder, optional
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup shortening, butter flavor, frozen, or use cold butter
- ½ Tablespoon honey
- ¾ cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese divided use
Instructions
- Wash hands thoroughly for 20 seconds before starting.
- Set oven for 425 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Measure 1 cup of milk in a 2-cup glass measure and add vinegar. Set aside while you prep the dry ingredients.
- Thoroughly combine the flours, dried rosemary, baking powder, garlic powder, and salt in a large bowl.
- Cut the frozen shortening into a fine dice, touching it as little as possible. Cut the shortening cubes into the dry ingerdients, until only pea-size bits of fat are visible.
- Mix the honey into the soured milk (making it sweet and sour!). Pour the wet ingredients into the flour-fat mixture. Mix gently with a spatula until no dry spots remain.
- Add ½ cup of the grated Cheddar. If using fresh rosemary, add it now with the cheese. Gently combine into the dough.
- Using an ice-cream sccop, place balls of dough onto the parchment-lined baking sheet, about half an inch apart. Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup of cheese over the tops. *Bake for 12 to 18 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the tops are golden.
Notes
⭕ Cutting out biscuits
You can also turn the dough onto a floured surface and push it together with your hands until it is no longer ragged. Using floured hands, fold the dough in half onto itself four or five times. Pat it out to about a 2" thickness. Cut biscuits with the round edge of a glass or small jar. Dip the cutting edge in flour before pushing it into the dough with a straight up-down motion. Do not twist your cutting tool if you want nice, tall biscuits! 😊Nutrition
Copyright © 2023 Jani Hall Leuschel
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