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.

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 … Read more →