- Hey, I'm John Kanell,
and today on "Preppy Kitchen,"
we're making delicious
chive and Parmesan buttermilk biscuits from my new book.
So let's get started.
First off, we're cubing
3/4 of a cup of European style butter
and popping that into the freezer.
Whenever you're making something that's flaky,
of lots of layers,
European style butter is really the way to go.
It's gonna be pure butter fat
with none of the milk solids or water
that you can get in regular butter.
They don't have to be beautiful and perfect.
We're just gonna mush them up anyways.
Into the freezer for 10 minutes
while we get everything else ready.
I'm gonna add one cup of Parmesan cheese
into these biscuits.
So much flavor,
they're gonna be delicious.
Just give it a grate.
And yes, you could definitely use pre-grated Parmesan cheese
if you want,
but I like to do it myself.
I thought this felt so heavy for a piece of cheese,
way more than I need,
but I didn't realize it's like rind and rind,
so it's just a little bit extra.
Now, in a big bowl,
I'm adding four cups or 530 grams of all-purpose flour,
a tablespoon of granulated sugar,
really balances out a lot of the savory flavors
we have here.
One tablespoon of baking powder to lift these up to the sky.
That, along with our butter,
is gonna do a lot of magic.
1.5 teaspoons of kosher salt.
I'm also adding in a teaspoon of white pepper,
but you could use any pepper you'd like.
So black or pink will work as well.
There's a pink pepper corn ice cream in the book.
Ah, it's so good.
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda goes in as well.
The buttermilk has a little bit of acid.
It'll react with the soda and also lift things up.
That's it for the scale.
I'm gonna give this a really quick whisk,
and now I'm gonna add in
my one cup of shredded Parmesan cheese.
Okay, whisk that (laughs).
That was the first thing
that has ever fallen off the counter
in the history of this channel.
Luckily, it was just a piece of paper.
Okay, whisk this up
to coat everything in that delicious cheese, mm.
Now I'm gonna grab that butter out of the freezer
and get to work.
I'm just gonna plop this in.
You don't wanna add it in in one giant mound.
Ah, these biscuits are a treasure, I tell you.
If you've never made your own biscuits,
you are missing out.
They're so easy and they go with everything.
Right now, you have a couple choices.
You could use a pastry cutter or your hands if you want.
Mine are nice and cold so I'll do this by hand.
But if you run hot,
you could cut the butter in with a knife or forks
or use the pastry cutter.
If you're doing this by hand,
smush the butter in.
You wanna kind of create some butter plates,
and the pieces of butter
should range between the size of a tiny little pee
and an almond,
so you have a play of sizes happening here.
I am so excited to be sharing recipes from the book.
It's been a labor of love
that I've been working on for a few years now,
and I just can't believe my dreams have come true
and it's finally out in the world.
You're gonna find over 100 brand new recipes
that I've never published before,
as well of a lot of behind the scenes photos
of what goes on at Hedge Hill Farm
and some really fun projects for the seasons as well.
The book's arranged by the seasons
so each recipe really fits the vibe of the season
and uses ingredients that are fresh at the time.
So in the winter,
so many comfort, cozy, delicious, spiced foods.
In the summer,
we have a lot of grilling,
fresh fruits and peaches,
and things have like a lighter vibe
because I'm out and about,
we're having picnics and grilling,
and it's just not the winter.
If you don't have your copy yet,
order yours today.
There's links in the description box below.
Right now, I have a nice crumbly mixture
so we're ready for our next step.
Need to wash my hands first.
Earlier today, I popped out to the kitchen garden
and gathered some chives.
I love having these fresh.
If you don't have chives,
you could definitely use scallions,
they work nicely as well.
Okay, we're gonna mince these up,
and I want about 1/4 of a cup.
I'm just measuring this out so I can be extra sure.
If I have a little bit more, it's okay.
All right, 1/4 of a cup, in you go.
Looks so pretty too.
Oh, come on.
1/4 of a cup, in you go.
I love the color and the flavor
these chives are gonna bring to this dish.
Let's get that a little mix.
Now I need 1.5 cups of ice cold buttermilk.
The buttermilk has that acid
that's gonna react with the baking powder,
and it gives you a delicious tang
that pairs really well with the Parmesan.
This can get really messy,
so definitely grab a spatula.
And we're gonna fold this in carefully.
You wanna end up
with like a catastrophically messy, wet batter.
It's okay if that happens.
These biscuits are such a treat,
and you can make them in advance too,
so you can pop them into the freezer
and bake them from frozen.
Once things are folded together reasonably well,
it won't be a completely cohesive dough,
I'm gonna turn this out onto my clean counter,
what a mess,
and now I'm gonna pat this into a one inch thick square.
So one of the secrets to a delicious flaky biscuit
is not patting it too thin.
It needs to have some thickness,
and also to stack and fold.
Grab a bench scraper or a large knife,
and you're gonna lift and fold the dough
just like a big delicious book.
Cut in 1/2,
stack it,
and repeat this process again, three more times.
This is how you build up
all those delicious pages of flaky amazingness.
So I'm patting it back into a one inch thick square.
And if you're doing this
and your fingers aren't getting messy, something's wrong.
And if you look closely,
you can see all those layers are built up in there.
This is gonna be so good.
One more time,
we're going to fold it,
stack it and pat it.
And if it's super messy,
just the lightest sprinkle of flour will help things out.
And my final pat.
Just the tiniest sprinkle of flour
to keep my hands from being ultra sticky.
I'm gonna use a Silpat for a minute,
it's basically just a non-stick surface
that I can be very happy with,
knowing that nothing's gonna stick to it.
Grab a round cutter.
You could go three inches, 3.5 inches,
but if you wanna do a smaller biscuit,
that's fine, just pat it down a little bit thinner,
otherwise you'll get that signature accordion biscuit look.
Those are still delicious,
but people have to expect that they're getting it.
In between cuts,
I'm gonna flour my cutter.
If it gets really messy,
I'll just wipe it off.
This first batch is gonna be the beauty batch.
They have all the good looks.
♪ Hot stuff, baby, tonight ♪
You wanna maintain these beautiful layers on the side,
so don't mar them,
don't press them in.
Cutting the last of my beauties,
I've been really careful not to mess up the sides.
But now we have to re-roll our scraps.
So bring them together.
I'd rather have my biscuits kind of crack apart
than miss all of the layers
so I'm putting them back together,
patting them down
and maintaining all that pagination or pages.
Okay, and one final mega biscuit.
Yeah, or maybe one final baby biscuit,
who's to say?
10 minutes in the freezer
or 1/2 an hour in the fridge minimum.
You can freeze them all the way through
and bake from frozen if desired.
While your biscuits are chilling,
preheat your oven to 425 Fahrenheit
so it's nice and toasty by the time they're ready.
My biscuits have been hanging out in the freezer.
Now it's time to brush them with some melted butter
for a little bit of added richness.
It'll also give them some shine and color.
Do try and leave the sides nice and clean.
They shouldn't be covered with anything
so your biscuits can rise up to the sky.
An optional flourish
is a little blessing of flaked sea salt.
It gives you some crunch and a little salty start.
They're ready to go into the oven,
425 for 18 to 20 minutes
or until they're golden and puffed throughout.
These smell better than you could ever imagine
and they only need to be finished off
with a little bit more melted butter for richness.
Then they go right into your mouth.
I'm gonna be inhaling all of these.
Oh my gosh.
That is beyond delicious.
The Parmesan, the chives and the butter
are working together to make some amazing magic.
I hope you get a chance to make this recipe from the book.
And if you like this video,
check out my "Preppy Kitchen" book playlist.