Flaky Cheddar Chive Biscuits

Last weekend, we took a look back at our recipe for Buttermilk Sweet Potato Biscuits. The sweet potato beauties are a hearty, savory & slightly sweeter version of the classic and make the perfect dunkers for dark sauces & stews. With biscuits on the brain all week, I found myself craving more of a light and fluffy version…a sky high biscuit with more buttery layers than I could count! Not one to let good buttermilk go bad, these Flaky Cheddar Chive Biscuits were on.

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Since there really isn’t much that goes into biscuits, you’ll want to start off with good quality, fresh ingredients. That old, open box of baking soaking up smells in your refrigerator isn’t gonna cut it!

Preheat your oven to 450°F. Since keeping the cold stuff cold is important here, try to stay away from the oven heat when you’re making the dough, if you can. Keep the butter and buttermilk in the refrigerator until they’re ready to dive in to the dough pool. You can even pop a stick of butter in the freezer for about 15 minutes before mixing it in.

Next, you’ll combine two cups of all-purpose flour with a tablespoon of baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Then, instead of a pastry cutter (real meaning - since we don’t own a pastry cutter!), I like to use a cheese grater to grate in 6 tablespoons of cold butter. Toss it around gently with your fingertips, coating all the butter bits with flour. (Watch out for hot hands! You don’t want to heat up that butter!)

Then you’ll mix in 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese and about 2 tablespoons of fresh, sliced chives. The rich cheddar flavor and oniony chive-ness are the perfect pair for these biscuits!

Finally, add in one cup of cold buttermilk and stir together, just long enough for a loose dough to form. You don’t want to overwork it or you’ll end up with tough biscuits!

Move your dough to a lightly floured surface and get ready to roll! Brush flour on your rolling pin and start to roll out the dough.

All of that cold butter is going to help give your biscuits lots of airy layers. But for extra flaky layers, fold the dough into thirds, roll and repeat. I didn’t want to overwork the dough, so I repeated the flaky folding process two more times.

These would make great little bite sized biscuits (just reduce the amount of time they spend in the oven), but this batch was cut with a 2½” biscuit cutter. Dip it in a little flour, then cut straight up and down. If you twist the cutter, those layers will press together and your biscuits may not rise to their full biscuit potential!

Move your cut biscuits to a parchment lined baking pan (this one is 9x9) and position them cozily up next to each other. Brush the tops with egg wash, then into the oven for about 15 minutes, or until they’re golden brown on top.

Would you look at that scratch-made biscuit magic! I love the rustic finish, each biscuit with its own unique style. A little melted butter on top and into your mouth they go!

Yield: 8-10 biscuitsAuthor: The Craft ChewPrint Recipe

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Flaky Cheddar Chive Biscuits

prep time: 20 minscook time: 15 minstotal time: 35 mins

These addictively delicious Cheddar Chive Biscuits are perfectly buttery and full of flaky layers!

ingredients:

• 2 cups All-Purpose flour (plus extra for kneading)
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 6 tbsp. cold, unsalted butter (plus some for brushing over top)
• 1 cup cold buttermilk
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 tbsp. sliced chives

instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. 
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda & salt.
3. Using a cheese grater, shred cold butter into flour & gently toss until butter pieces are incorporated into dry ingredients.
4. Gently toss in shredded cheddar and sliced chives.
5. Add cold buttermilk and gently mix, just until combined.
6. Move dough to lightly floured surface.
7. With a flour dusted rolling pin, roll out to rectangular shape (about 7 x 10) and fold dough into thirds. Roll and repeat folds two more times to help create extra flaky layers. 
8. Roll the dough out to 3/4” - 1" thickness and, using a flour dusted biscuit cutter, cut biscuits out in a straight up and down motion. 
9. Closely align biscuits next to each other on parchment lined pan. Brush with egg wash and bake for about 15 minutes or until tops are golden brown. 
10. Out of the oven, brush tops with melted butter and dig in!

NOTES:

Make sure your butter and buttermilk are extra cold when adding them to the dough. Leave the milk in the refrigerator until you're ready to add it to the dough. You can even pop a stick of butter in the freezer for about 10 minutes before grating it in. 

Be gentle with dough and avoid over-mixing. 

Avoid sprinkling too much flour while rolling dough out. Too much flour will dry out your biscuits. 

Avoid twisting the biscuit cutter when cutting out your biscuits. Twisting will force those layers together, keeping them from rising high while they bake.

Thanks for Chewsing!