Bread On Tuesday ~ Week 6 {Cheddar Biscuits}

I almost didn't try this recipe.  

Ron was perusing my new December issue of Country Living magazine, and these Cheddar Biscuits caught his eye.  He showed me the picture and the recipe and I told him two reasons why I was not interested.  First of all, I have a tried-and-true biscuit recipe that I have been using for over thirty years.  They are good. Why can't I just add cheese?  Secondly, I scorned the recipe's claim that the total time is 60 minutes! Now, I am not fast.  Okay, okay...I am slow.  (Did I ever tell you that my first grade teacher dubbed me "The  Pokey Puppy"?  Or that Ron calls us three girls Slow, Slower, and Slowest?)  But if I can't make biscuits in less than an hour, I might as well hang up my apron.  

The next day was Sunday, and I needed a quick bread to add to our lunch menu, for that particular afternoon's agenda was quite full.  Remembering Ron's enthusiasm for these biscuits on Saturday, I decided to try them just this once.  

We all loved them.  

So I ate my words along with my cheddar biscuit.  

I did make them in less than an hour, but they weren't just my baking powder biscuits with cheese.  There was black pepper to give them a bit of a punch, a tangy cheesy flavor, and a yummy crispy bottom. 

I have made them several times since, and this recipe has found its way into my collection.   

Original recipe as seen in Country Living found ~here~. Ingredients: 4 cups flour (more for surface) 8 teaspoons baking powder  1 teaspoon  salt 2 teaspoons coarsely ground pepper 1 1/2 sticks butter, cold and cut into small pieces 2 cups buttermilk* 1 cup grated Cheddar (about 4 ounces) Directions: Preheat over to 450°F.  In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper.  Using a pastry cutter, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Add buttermilk and cheddar, and stir just until dough comes together. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface; divide dough into halves and pat each into a rectangle. Using your hands, fold flatten, and repeat until the dough has been folded over 4 times.  Pat out until 1 inch thick.  Cut out biscuits using a 2-inch round cutter.  Repeat with other dough rectangle.  Reroll scrap dough and repeat until all dough is used.** Transfer biscuits to two baking sheets and bake until golden on top, 14 to 18 minutes.  ~ ~ ~ MY NOTES: * I never have buttermilk on hand.  I always pour a tablespoon or two of white vinegar into my measuring cup, fill it up to the 2-cup mark with milk, and let it stand about 5 minutes  or so before adding it to the recipe. ** I am not too fussy about the dough-folding stage. That is, I don't count the "4 times" or anything.   I just fold it together until it is dry enough to handle, while trying not to overwork it.

And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman;

 and she constrained him to eat bread. 

And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread.

II Kings 4:8