Cheddar and Sage Biscuits
Posted by in Food
This family loves biscuits and I always make them from scratch, with my mom’s recipe. I’ve learned over the years that biscuit dough needs to be handled as little as possible to get a nice consistency. I always hand form my biscuits instead of rolling them out.
Martha has a recipe for Cheddar and Sage Biscuits in December Everyday Food. I have added cheddar to biscuits before, but never sage, so I wanted to try them.
This recipe recommends making biscuits in the food processor. I’ve always done mine by hand with a pastry butter, so this was new. I also noticed the recipe contains a lot of baking powder – 2 tbsp. The recipe also contains 2 tbsp fresh chopped sage and buttermilk (a must in biscuits!) as well as 2 cups of cheddar cheese.
Using the food processor was quick, but I was worrying about overworking it. I whizzed it until it just came together then hand formed the biscuits.
They baked quickly at 450 and puffed up. Would they win family approval? The answer is, surprisingly, no one even noticed the cheese or the sage. I’m still surprised. I didn’t really taste it either. It adds a very mild background flavor. I did think these biscuits were a little tough and would not make them in the food processor again. They were good though, but I’m going to stick with my mom’s recipe:
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp soda
1/3 cup butter
2/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese (optional).
Cut butter into dry ingredients then gently mix in buttermilk until just combined. Pat into rounds and bake at 475 degrees for about 10 minutes. Makes 6 large biscuits.
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I think Mom’s recipes are usually always the best. 🙂
I have never been successful with biscuits. Thanks for your pointers. I look forward to trying your mom’s recipe.
The key is to touch them as little as possible. Just bring it barely together and form them. The less you touch them, the more tender they will be.
This looks really simple, and I was surprised that they didn’t have more butter (your recipe… not that I think you are a butter queen, just that I thought biscuits had more).
Ha ha! It does only make 6. Butter queen – that’s Paula Deen y’all!
I love me some biscuits…I tested a recipe recently and developed one–light as air, but nowhere near as mile-high as yours look…I have done it both by hand and processor (which cuts down on the heat of your hand touching the dough)–but they come together so quickly, I liked the hand method in the end…
Next time, more cheddar? Sage I can live without…
I felt like the food processor ones were just too tough – not as light as my mom’s. I think it gets worked too much by spinning around so many times.
It’s interesting that you couldn’t really taste either the cheddar or the sage. Ward made a batch of jalopeno cheddar ones recently, and we discovered the same thing – you could hardly taste either the jalopeno or the cheese. Maybe with biscuits you just have to really increase the flavorings if you want to be able to taste them.
I think that’s true. Maybe because they are so dense, the flavor gets lost?
I can smell them cooking right about now. Love biscuits – and these sound delish!
Never in all my baking life have I made a decent biscuit. I guess I’m impaired in some way when it comes to this particular thing. It’s a shame too because there is nothing better than a fresh one with butter and honey.
Or strawberry jam:)
I think using a really sharp cheddar helps the flavor come through. I’ve used other herbs but not sage– sounds great and very seasonal too. thanks.
I’ve tried making biscuits twice unsuccessfully…they definitely seem to be on the more difficult end of baking. I copied your Mom’s recipe and I’m gonna give that a whirl some weekend over the holidays. Thanks for sharing her recipe.
Hmm, I made Red Lobster-style garlic cheddar biscuits, but I’m not sure how much cheese I use. Probably closer to a cup. No trouble tasting the cheese then.
I’m with Sheryl … I can almost smell them from your photo.
I’m surprised that the sage and cheddar weren’t more prominent. I once made sweet potato bisquits, which were totally delicious, though! Haven’t tried it with cheddar cheese.
Since I’m from the South, I think biscuits are the perfect food. Looking at yours makes my mouth water.
I’ve never tried to make biscuits, though now I crave them constantly since I’m gluten free. Maybe I should try my hand at a GF version?