9.23.14 White Cheddar and Scallion Biscuits with Hot Sauce Butter
A good biscuit is a beautiful thing. You know what I mean. A hot, flaky, buttery delight, fresh from the oven is hard to resist. And whether you top it with melty butter, sticky-sweet jam, syrupy honey, or really, anything else, one just cannot discount the marvelousness that is the humble biscuit.
As amazingly delicious as a good homemade biscuit can be, they’re surprisingly easy to make. No really. A biscuit fiend like myself can easily whip up a batch, sans recipe, in hardly any time at all. That’s because biscuit dough is about as easy as they come - 3 parts flour to 2 parts liquid (buttermilk, duh), to 1 part butter. Obviously, you’ve got to throw in some baking powder and salt as well for ultimate fluffiness and flavor, but really that’s it. Easy peasy. Mix it up, roll it out, fold it up a few times, cut out your biscuits, and pop them in the oven. Most of your time spent making these guys will be waiting for them to come out of the oven, and trying not to drool too much while you do so.
Yes, the biscuit is a beautiful thing, but these biscuits in particular are exceptionally wonderful. Why might you ask? Well firstly, let’s consider the undeniable fact that pretty much anything can always be just a little bit tastier with the addition of cheese. This has been proven - don’t ask questions. Secondly, some lovely additional savory notes in the form of fresh farmer’s market scallions are never a bad thing. And finally, three words. Hot. Sauce. Butter. When you’ve spent your life trying to choose between hot sauce or butter as a biscuit topping, the pure genius of combining the two into one übercondiment is utterly mindblowing. Boom.
White Cheddar and Scallion Biscuits with Hot Sauce Butter
makes 6 large biscuits
The rolling and folding may seem a little fiddly, but trust me, it takes almost no time and the result is big, billowy, biscuits with lots of flaky layers. If you prefer to simply roll out the dough and cut out your biscuits with a round cutter or glass, feel free. Me, I’m sticking with the layers.
biscuits:
- 1 ¾ c flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, chilled
- ¾ cup cold buttermilk
- ¾ cup finely grated sharp white cheddar cheese (I recommend Hook’s 2 year)
- ¼ cup chopped scallions (green part only)
butter:
- 2 Tbsp butter, softened
- ½ tsp (or more to taste) hot sauce
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper until well mixed.
3. Cut the butter into very small pieces and add to the bowl. Using your hands, work the butter into the flour until the pieces are small and the mixture has a grainy texture.
4. Stir in the buttermilk, grated cheddar, and scallions and mix until a cohesive dough has formed.
5. Place dough on a well floured surface and roll out into a large square (about 1 foot x 1 foot). Fold the dough into thirds crosswise, by bringing the left side into the middle, followed by the right side. Now fold into thirds again lengthwise, by bringing the top into the middle, followed by the bottom. If you aren’t thoroughly confused at this point, you should have a small square of dough with several layers.
6. Roll the square of dough out top to bottom until you have a slightly bigger rectangle. Use a sharp knife to cut into 6 equal pieces. Place biscuits on a greased baking sheet, then transfer to the oven.
7. Bake at 400 degrees until biscuits are a lovely golden brown, about 25 minutes.
8. While biscuits bake, make the butter: mix together the softened butter with the hot sauce until a smooth consistency is achieved. Add additional hot sauce to taste if more heat is desired.
9. Serve biscuits warm with hot sauce butter. Try not to eat the entire batch by yourself.
