- Hey, I'm John Kanell, and today on Preppy Kitchen,
we're making some easy, amazing cheddar biscuits.
So let's get started.
First off, set your oven to 425 Fahrenheit,
it needs to be nice and hot,
and these come together so quickly.
Now, the next step is very important.
Grab your cheddar cheese, and you have to give it a taste.
There are so many different kinds of cheddar,
and if you have a milder cheddar,
you're probably gonna wanna add
a quarter teaspoon of salt extra into this recipe,
so, give it a taste first, know what you're dealing with.
Now you can give it a shred.
This is a red cheddar.
It's been aged.
It is packed with flavor, and it's nice and salty.
All cheddars are not created equal.
So I want 120 grams of a shredded cheddar for this.
You can manage it out with a cup.
But.
I never wanna like pack it down,
'cause then it's kinda stuck together, so.
Here we go (laughs).
So, that's 120 grams or one cup.
If I packed this down it would fit in,
but I don't wanna pack it in
'cause it's like the reverse of shredding.
Alright, now we also want to cube our butter.
Hmm.
This needs to be rock hard,
so, cut it into quarters.
For this recipe you could use
an American or European style butter,
they're both gonna work out.
If I was doing a traditional biscuit
where we're stacking and folding and getting those layers,
I would have more to say on this,
but this is like a drop biscuit, it's so easy.
Comes together in a few minutes,
you can prep it out ahead of time.
And it's gonna make all of your dinners
like super extra scrumptious.
My butter is cubed up.
This can go back into the fridge, I want it to be ice cold.
Not at all warm.
Eat the rest of your cheese, now we're gonna grab a big bowl
and get the drying greens together.
(jaunty accordion music)
(vocalizes)
Into a large bowl,
2.25 cups or 270 grams of all-purpose flour.
But make sure you zero your scale up first.
Got too excited by that red cheddar.
So that, by the way, is perfect mac and cheese cheddar.
It's like the best.
To fluff things up, I want one tablespoon of baking powder.
If you're a Red Lobster fan, by the way,
you know the best thing there
are those Cheddar Bay biscuits.
So, this is like the homemade version you could make,
but I think they're much better,
because it's just nice, plain ingredients
that you have in your kitchen,
and they're fresh and full of flavor, and not too salty.
I'm using a teaspoon of salt here,
and mine is like ever so slightly rounded.
It's like a teaspoon plus and eighth,
I like mine a little bit on the salty side.
I want half a teaspoon of garlic powder.
A quarter teaspoon of paprika,
and you can use regular paprika or smoked paprika.
You could also add in some chili powder,
some more ground pepper.
Make this biscuit your own,
it really takes on flavors really well.
Our scale is done.
And we're just gonna bring this together.
You really wanna distribute the spices,
and that baking powder and salt.
Grab your ice cold butter.
We're gonna sprinkle that in.
You don't wanna have like a big clump of butter
that you drop in.
You have two choices here,
you can use a pastry blender that'll work it through,
or use your fingers.
I actually prefer to do this by hand.
One, 'cause I find it very pleasing and tactile.
But it also really lets you control the size of the butter.
I want roughly pea-sized pieces.
That butter is going to expand,
and really puff up in the oven, so,
you don't want to have it all worked into
little nothing sand pieces.
You should have roughly pea-sized pieces like this.
If you're doing this with a European style butter,
by the way, you will feel the difference.
This butter has a fair amount of like milk water in it,
so it breaks up into hard little chunks,
but the European style butter
is going to have soft little pieces of fat
so quickly it melts in your hands, right away.
Take a little break from this bowl.
Into a small bowl,
half a cup of cold buttermilk, it's 120 mils.
Buttermilk is also a little bit acidic,
so it'll help puff things up even more, and,
acidic liquids will give you a tender baked good,
they inhibit some of the gluten formation,
so things are just nice and pull apart amazing.
One large egg.
Give this a quick whisk.
And by the way, if you don't have buttermilk on hand,
you could just use regular whole milk
and add two teaspoons of white vinegar right in.
Okay, back to the big bowl.
It's time to add the cheese.
So, sprinkle your cheddar in.
(chuckles)
Didn't add the cheddar in, did I?
Well, (laughs) oh well.
If it clumps together, just unclump it with your fingers.
So we're gonna toss this together now.
Get that nice and coated.
I'm gonna use my fingers.
And just mix the cheese in really well.
Now we can add our buttermilk egg mixture in.
Pour and stir as you go.
Look at that beautiful color.
Now these are gonna be good biscuits.
This looks great.
Full of cheese, nice and shaggy, not at all dry.
I just added in like a teaspoon or two extra buttermilk.
Set that aside.
Grab a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat.
And now we're gonna scoop these out
into quarter cup size scoops.
Wash your hands first.
Time to scoop things up about a quarter of a cup,
but we don't wanna pack it down too much,
you wanna have some air in there, so.
Just be gentle, and if it's coming apart,
then you can squeeze it together.
Space your biscuits out evenly,
try and get about two inches apart.
You can see how quickly these come together.
But if you wanted to make this in advance,
don't try and make the dough in advance
and then bake off from frozen or anything like that,
'cause the buttermilk is gonna react with the baking powder.
Instead, what you could do is whisk the dry ingredients,
prep the butter, prep the cheese.
And then, just mix it all together at the last moment
and bake them.
And once they're all ready,
it's time to pop these into the oven,
425, for 15 to 17 minutes, they're gonna be puffed golden
and so aromatic when they're done.
In the meantime, we'll make that butter
(triumphant swing music)
While those biscuits are baking,
let's make a really easy butter.
So, I want one quarter cup of butter
right into a small bowl.
Melt this over 50% heat,
couple second bursts will do the trick,
and then we're going to mix things up.
This butter is gonna get a beautiful dash of color
and some nice vegetable flavor,
with two tablespoons of minced parsley.
If you don't like parsley, you could totally use chives,
or any other herb you like, or omit it completely.
(lively dance-pop music)
Now it's time
for a generous quarter teaspoon of garlic powder.
As well as our parsley.
Give it a mix, and it's as simple as that,
this is gonna add so much a flavor, I tell you.
If you want, you can add a sprinkle of salt in here,
or you can add a sprinkle of Maldon,
like flaked sea salt on top,
for a nice crunchy, salty finish.
Okay, perfect, now let's still be ready
for when these biscuits come outta the oven,
we can brush them up and make something delicious happen.
If you could smell these biscuits, your mind would be blown.
Brush that butter on liberally.
Oh my gosh, glistening.
Smelling amazing, just wait 'til it pops into your mouth.
The finishing touch, a sprinkle of flaked sea salt.
Nice big pieces
that just give you that wonderful hit at the very beginning.
And just like that they're ready to enjoy.
(vocalizes)
That is cheesy amazingness, it dissolves in your mouth,
and I really hope you get a chance to make this recipe.
If you like this video,
check out my Easy Dinner Treats playlist!