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Perhaps the Best Biscuits Ever?

by 52 Comments

Herbed Cheese Biscuits

I think so.

It was my first night back in my own kitchen but thanks to jet lag, I was far from ready to put a lot of effort into dinner. I put my husband in charge of grilling some meat and I managed to make a decent-tasting side dish out of some canned beans, frozen vegetables and rice.

But what I really wanted was something warm from the oven, dripping with butter.

I started flipping through my latest cookbook, a gift my cousin brought me from a recent trip to Wisconsin, called Best of the Best from Wisconsin. I would have been satisfied with any of the quick muffins or corn bread recipes I found but I realized we had no eggs. Then I found a variety of quick and easy beer bread recipes that sounded good, but we had no beer.

That’s when I saw it: a recipe for Cheese Drop Biscuits. Quick. Easy. Cheesy. It was exactly what I needed and I had all five ingredients on hand!

Then I started thinking about the Sour Cream, Cheddar and Chive Biscuit recipe that I had been planning on revamping for quite some time. Next thing I knew, the five ingredients had turned into ten, the cheese drop biscuits were now sour cream, herb and and cheese rolled biscuits, and my kitchen smelled so good I’m surprised the neighbors weren’t knocking on my door.

A new Pinch My Salt recipe was born!

Even though the ingredient list doubled in size, these still go together in minutes. In fact, if you aren’t careful, the biscuits will be ready to go before your oven is even finished preheating!

I decided to add a combination of herbs to my biscuits rather than sticking with just chives and this turned out to be a very good idea! Any combination of herbs would work great, I just happened to grab some dried basil and marjoram this time around.

These are some of the most tender and flavorful biscuits I’ve ever tasted. The best part was that they tasted even better the next day! I never like to eat leftover biscuits so this was a wonderful discovery for me. Granted, these are not the healthiest things I’ve ever made–there’s a reason they taste so good! But it’s ok to splurge sometimes, right? You only live once!

  • Herbed Cheese Biscuits
  • 2 C. flour
  • 2 t. baking powder
  • 1/2 t. baking soda
  • 1/2 t. mustard powder
  • 1 T. chopped fresh herbs or 1 t. dried*
  • 4 T. butter
  • 1 C. shredded cheese (whatever kind you prefer)
  • 3/4 C. sour cream
  • 1/4 C. milk
  • 1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
  • 2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, mustard powder and herbs.
  • 3. Using a pastry blender or your fingers, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs and the pieces of butter are the size of peas. Stir in shredded cheese.
  • 4. In a small bowl or measuring cup, mix together sour cream and milk. Add sour cream mixture to the dry mixture. Stir until just combined.
  • 5. Turn dough out onto a well-floured counter and knead a few times with floured hands. Pat dough out with your hands to about one-inch thickness. Cut biscuits using a biscuit cutter or cut into desired shapes with a knife.
  • 6. Bake at 450 degrees for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.
  • *You may use any combination of herbs you want. I like to use 1/2 T. fresh chives along with some dried herbs like 1/2 t. basil and 1/2 t. marjoram. The amounts listed are just guidelines. Experiment and have fun!

I still haven’t tried the original recipe from the Wisconsin cookbook but here it is in case you’re curious:

Cheese Drop Biscuits

2 C. flour
2 t. baking powder
4 T. butter
1 C. grated cheese
1 C. milk

Sift flour and baking powder; cut in remaining ingredients. Mix and drop by teaspoonfuls on greased baking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees for 12 – 15 minutes.

Source: Best of the Best from Wisconsin Cookbook

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Comments

  1. Rain says

    I'm definitely going to give these biscuits a try. I love biscuits and these look delicious. Glad to hear they taste great the next day too as we always have leftovers and most biscuits don't taste all that good when they've been sitting around. These look yummy!
    Reply

  2. Nicole says

    Mallow: Thanks! Heather: I hope you do try them! Let us know what you think! Katiez: I know, biscuits are one of those things that just aren't that great reheated. But I thought these were good the next day--both cold and reheated! Rain: Please let me know what you think if you end up making these. Thanks for stopping by!
    Reply

  3. Rain says

    Yes...the best biscuits ever! I'm surprised there were any leftover but we did manage to not eat some of them so we'll be trying them out tomorrow. Thanks for a great recipe for biscuits. One of my great pleasures in life is a good biscuit - I'd rather have that than a donut.
    Reply

  5. amanda says

    these really do look like some superb biscuit! i am true southern biscuit lover and would happily gobble down several of these! they look great nicole!
    Reply

  6. Mariangela says

    Amazing! We used Giusto's Organic Unbleached All-Family Wheat Flour (their version of all-purpose) and the crumb and texture were perfect. We used white cheddar (looks like you used yellow?) and didn't have mustard powder but will use it next time. Delicious with a poached egg!
    Reply

  7. Nicole says

    Rain: I hope you enjoyed them the following day, too! I thought they tasted pretty good the next day, something that is very unusual for a biscuit! It must have something to do with the sour cream. Pam: I hope you were able to make them! Amanda: Thanks! Coming from you, I'll definitely take that as a compliment! Mariangela: Yeah! I'm glad you finally got to make these. I'm sure they were wonderful with white cheddar. I think I actually used some colby jack because that's what I had on hand. I would usually opt for an extra sharp cheddar in something like this :-) I've never heard of that type of flour, I'm going to look it up now.
    Reply

  8. Eric says

    These look and sound wonderful! I love to make a huge Thanksgiving feast for my family every year; I frequently invite a few friends, too. I wanted something a bit special for the biscuits this year. This looks like just what I wanted! Thank you for telling us about these, I'll be making them in just a few days! :)
    Reply

  9. Mimosa says

    I went up to visit my fiance at college and his caffeteria had these wonderful cheesy herb biscuits, but I didn't get a chance to ask for the name. This recipe sounded exactly like what I was looking for, but they turned out even better! I would have to agree on the mustard powder doing the trick. These were delicious.
    Reply

  10. Gretchen says

    I can't wait to make these biscuits, but what flour is best to use? Is a regular all-purpose flour ok?
    Reply

  12. lorchick says

    i have a printout of this recipe sitting on my fridge and make them at least once a week. my husband loves them soooo much and requests them all the time. And I bring them to/make them for dinner parties and people are always in love with them! great recipe, and fun to make variations of.
    Reply

  15. SallyBR says

    April 2007 to April 2009. For TWO years I've had this recipe on my "to try soon" folder. well, better late than never. They were awesome! Made them small like yours seem to be in the photo, and served as a side delicacy with chili so so good! Thank you
    Reply

  17. Anastasia says

    Made these last night. I had been looking for an herb biscuit since moving from Durham, NC to the West coast. I really wanted a recipe to imitate the unbelievable herb biscuits at Foster's Market http://www.fostersmarket.com/. Thanks so much! These did the trick. The only variation I made--and this was to imitate the Foster's biscuits--was to add coarsely chopped scallions instead of chives. So wonderful!
    Reply

  18. Mamaliga says

    Nicole! I made these for this Thanksgiving! I found a recipe by Peter Reinhardt in a recent Bon Appetit issue that sounds very close to yours (except the mustard powder, and he is using fresh herbs). He called them 'Cheese & Herbs Poppers' - They turned out insanely good! And heck - the next day you can re-heat them in the microwave oven and they are like fresh! Gabi @ Mamaliga.com
    Reply

  19. Kris says

    Made these the other night to go with Irish beef stew. They came together really quickly and puffed up beautifully in the oven. The only thing I'd add next time is maybe 1/4-1/2 tsp of salt. I was surprised to see no salt in the recipe, but figured that they'd be savory enough from the butter & cheese. With just a wee bit, I think they'll be absolutely perfect next time. Definitely saving the recipe! Also, I can confirm that they are awesome the next day. We made egg & cheese breakfast sandwiches with them. :)
    Reply

  20. Veronica says

    Hey, I have never made biscuits from scratch before so I tried the easier one from the "Wisconsin" recipe. In the end, itself was a bit bland, so I melted some butter, put in salt pepper and garlic powder, brushed it on the biscuits and rebaked for 5 more minutes. Any ideas as to where I could change the base dough to a bit more flavorful? They turned out very good as sides with spaghetti though. :)
    Reply

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