The lovely new book Biscuits, a Savor the South cookbook from the University of North Carolina Press asks a fundamental question: why not put the bacon right in the biscuit.
While you’re at it, why not add in some cheese. Breakfast can be something with a biscuit on the side, or you can make these full flavor items your total meal. A good cup of coffee and one or two these Bacon-Cheddar Biscuits is an ideal way to start your Sunday. Or Monday, or …
As with really authentic biscuits, these are made with buttermilk. To make life easy, they are not rolled and cut out. These are drop biscuits whose ragged top and edges make each biscuit charmingly unique.
The recipe below suggests dividing the cheese in half, putting half in the dough and sprinkling the rest over the top of the biscuits before baking. In our case, we wanted the cheese flavor deep inside so all that cheese and bacon went inside. A marvelous personal choice, I must say.
Bacon-Cheddar
Yield: 8 biscuits
Ingredients:
- 2 cups soft wheat all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch chunks and chilled for 15 minutes
- 6-8 ounces smoky bacon
- 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
- ¾ cup buttermilk, plus more if needed
- 1 tablespoon rendered bacon fat.
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, brown sugar, and pepper in a large mixing bowl. Cut in the butter until it’s the size of small peas.
In a skillet over low heat, cook the bacon until done. Drain on paper towels, reserving the rendered fat. Finely chop the bacon and return to the skillet. Cook over low heat until the bacon is crisp and most of the fat is rendered, about 7 minutes. Allow to cool slightly.
Stir the bacon and half of the cheese into the flour mixture. Add the buttermilk and rendered bacon fat and stir to combine. Add additional buttermilk if needed to create a sticky dough.
Using an ice cream scoop on heaping tablespoon, drop the biscuits onto the baking sheet. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
Bake for 12 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown.
Source: Biscuits: a Savor the South cookbook by Belinda Ellis, Copyright 2013 by the Univrsity fo North Carolina Press. Used by permission of the publisher. www.uncpress.unc.ed.
Photo Information: Canon T2i, EFS 18-55MM Macro lens shot at F/2.8, 1/100th second, ISO 500