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The first time I saw North Carolina Cheese Biscuits on Cook's Country's PBS show, I thought - Wow, do they look incredible!
Now I'm wishing I'd made them a lot sooner.
Big, fluffy biscuits with a melty, cheesy middle. And don't forget the melted butter slathered on the golden brown top.
What Makes These Biscuits So Good?
First of all you use cold butter that's pulsed in a food processor along with a flour mixture. This distributes the butter perfectly so it will create tender, buttery pockets throughout.
Then there's a little more butter in the buttermilk, which blends with the flour/butter mixture to make a perfect, almost sticky dough.
And don't forget the butter slathered on top before and after baking to get that perfect golden brown color.
So the answer is....butter!
Cook's Country states the dough is very wet and sticky, but I didn't find that true with mine.
I lightly floured my hands to create the round biscuit circles and the dough was very easy to handle.
After you split the dough into six portions, you flatten each portion out and stuff a giant ball of cheddar cheese into the circle. Wrap the dough around it, pinch the bottom together and place seam-side down in the pan.
When I heard about the North Carolina Cheese Biscuits, I figured they were regular old biscuits with grated cheese incorporated into the dough.
These, though, have that great middle of melted cheese instead, surrounded by the thick, tender, perfectly baked biscuit.
I've never had much luck making homemade biscuits, but these are incredible! I'll make these with the cheese, but also without because they're so good.
Be gentle with the dough when you're stirring it together. The less you mess with it, the better the final biscuit.
If you don't have a food processor, pulse the flour/butter mixture in your blender for a similar result.
Keep a watch on them while they're baking and pull them out when the tops are golden brown. At the high temperature, the bottoms have a tendency to get very browned, almost burned.
If you're concerned about the bottoms over-browning, I found that turning down the temperature to 425° helped avoid that. Also remember to use a light-colored pan to get less-brown bottoms.
This is now my favorite biscuit recipe! Fairly easy to throw together with a marvelous, delicious result.
Another great biscuit on my site that you may want to take a look at is Blueberry Lemon Drop Biscuits. They're terrific!
Ingredients
- 8 oz. sharp yellow cheddar cheese, shredded (about 2 Cups)
- 3 C all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoon butter, cut into ¼" pieces, plus 3 tablespoon melted
- 1 ½ C buttermilk
Instructions
1. Heat oven to 500°. Grease or spray a light-colored 9" round cake pan. Take ⅓ cup of the shredded cheese and form into a tight, firm ball. Repeat with the rest of the cheese (equals 6 cheese balls).
2. Pulse 2 ½ cups of the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a food processor (or blender) until combined, about 6 pulses. Add the chilled butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal, 8 to 10 pulses.
3. Transfer the flour/butter mixture to a large bowl. Stir in the buttermilk until just combined (Dough will be slightly sticky and a little lumpy).
4. Spread the remaining ½ cup of flour onto a rimmed baking sheet. Using a sprayed ½ cup dry measuring cup, transfer 6 portions of dough to the prepared sheet. Dust the top of each with a little flour from the sheet.
5. Lightly flour your hands and gently flatten 1 portion of dough into a 3 ½" circle. Pick up the dough circle and place 1 cheese ball in the center. Gently pull the edges of the dough over the cheese to enclose, then pinch together the seams. Shake off any excess flour and transfer to the prepared cake pan. Repeat with the remaining dough and cheese, placing 5 biscuits around the edge of pan and one in the center. (They'll spread a bit on baking.)
6. Brush the biscuit tops with 2 tablespoons of the melted butter. Bake for 5 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 450°. Continue to bake until biscuits are golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes longer. Let the biscuits cool in the pan for 2 minutes, then invert onto a plate. Break the biscuits apart and turn right-side up. Brush the tops of the biscuits with the leftover 1 tablespoon of melted butter. Let cool for 5 minutes, then serve warm.
Notes
The original recipe had ½ cup more flour to spread on the baking sheet, but I ended up throwing quite a bit of it away, so I pared it down to only ½ cup.
These are best the first day and served warm. Refrigerate leftovers. (The next day I split the biscuits, took out the cheese, then warmed the biscuit up for about 15-20 seconds, added a little butter and jam - awesome!)
I lowered the temperature to 425° after about 12 minutes because the bottoms were starting to get too brown. Then I baked for about 5 more minutes.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6Serving Size: 1 biscuit
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 482Total Fat: 21gSaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 60mgSodium: 1162mgCarbohydrates: 55gFiber: 2gSugar: 5gProtein: 17g
Nutrition Values are Approximate
FAQs
Overworking (or Underworking) the Dough
The biscuits will be hard and tough if you stir the dough too much. They will have a floury, uneven texture if you don't mix enough. Our Test Kitchen cracked the code: Stir the dough 15 times for the perfect consistency and texture.
What is the secret to an excellent biscuit? ›
Do not Overwork Biscuit Dough. Handle the dough as little as possible. Every time you touch, knead and fold, you are developing gluten. The more developed the gluten, the tougher the biscuit.
Why are my cheese biscuits crumbly? ›
Falling apart
Conversely you might find that your biscuits are too crumbly. The likelihood here is that your recipe needs a bit more liquid, or your recipe has too high a ratio of flour. Be sparing with any flour you put on the work surface to roll your dough too.
What makes biscuits taste better? ›
Sugar and Salt: Add flavor. We don't add a lot of sugar (just 1 tablespoon). Cold Butter: I love using European-style salted butter, like Kerrygold or Plugra, since they make our biscuits tender and delicious. If you don't have European salted butter, plain butter works (salted or unsalted).
Why are my biscuits hard and not fluffy? ›
If your biscuits are too tough…
Biscuit dough is moist and sticky, so much so that it may seem too wet after you've added all your flour. If you do think this about your dough, fight the urge to add more dry ingredients — dough that isn't wet enough will bake into a hard, dry biscuit.
Should you chill biscuit dough before baking? ›
But if you chill your pan of biscuits in the fridge before baking, not only will the gluten relax (yielding more tender biscuits), the butter will harden up. And the longer it takes the butter to melt as the biscuits bake, the more chance they have to rise high and maintain their shape. So, chill... and chill.
What type of flour makes the best biscuits? ›
White wheat in general is around 9-12% protein, while the hard reds are 11-15%. As far as brands of flour, White Lily “all-purpose” flour has been my go-to for biscuit making. It's a soft red winter wheat, and the low protein and low gluten content keep biscuits from becoming too dense.
What is the best flour to use for biscuits? ›
Self-rising flour is great for biscuits for a number of reasons: It's often made with soft (low protein) Southern wheat. Look for White Lily or Martha White flours. I haven't tried King Arthur self-rising flour but their products are usually excellent.
What is the king of biscuit? ›
Pillai became known in India as the 'Biscuit King' or 'Biscuit Baron'. He took over Nabisco's other Asian subsidiaries. Pillai then established links with Boussois-Souchon-Neuvesel (BSN), the French food company, and by 1989 controlled six Asian companies worth over US$400 million.
How do you keep cheese biscuits crisp? ›
02/6Cover with tissues Another way of storing biscuits and cookies is by taking airtight containers and layering them with a few tissues and then placing the baked delights over the tissues and covering them with another layer of tissues. Doing this can retain freshness and crispiness for a long time.
Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and pat it down into a rough rectangle, about an inch thick. Fold it over and gently pat it down again. Repeat two more times. Cover the dough loosely with a kitchen towel and allow it to rest for 30 minutes.
How can I get my biscuits to rise higher? ›
Bake them close to each other.
Biscuits are an exception to this rule: Placing them close to one another on your baking sheet actually helps them push each other up, as they impede each other from spreading outward and instead puff up skywards.
What is the difference between northern and southern biscuits? ›
The earliest biscuits were a simple combination of flour and water that resulted in little more than baked paste. Soon people learned that adding fat to the recipe made them tasty and flaky. In the Northern states butter is the favored lipid. In the South, lard or shortening is the standard.
Which liquid makes the best biscuits? ›
Just as important as the fat is the liquid used to make your biscuits. Our Buttermilk Biscuit recipe offers the choice of using milk or buttermilk. Buttermilk is known for making biscuits tender and adding a zippy tang, so we used that for this test.
What kind of flour do Southerners use for biscuits? ›
White Lily brand flour, especially the self-rising flour, is the gold standard among Southern cooks who make biscuits on a regular basis.
What are the faults in biscuit making? ›
Don't Make These Biscuit Mistakes
- You're Using the Wrong Flour. This is the number one culprit for failed biscuits. ...
- Your Ingredients Are Too Warm. Like pie dough, you want your biscuit ingredients to be cold. ...
- You're Overworking the Dough. ...
- You're Using a Mixer Instead of Your Hands. ...
- You're Twisting The Biscuit Cutter.
Overmixing: If you mix the dough too much, the gluten in the flour can develop too much and create tough, hard biscuits. Be sure to mix the dough just until it comes together and avoid kneading or overworking the dough. Overbaking: Biscuits can become dry and hard if they are overbaked.
What causes spoilage in biscuits? ›
Penicillium (Penicillium chrysogenum, Penicillium roqueforti, and Penicillium brevicompactum), Aspergillus (previously Eurotium), Wallemia, and other familiar molds such as Rhizopus, Chrysonilia sitophila, and Mucor are the main genera involved in the spoiling of bakery items [14–16].
Why don't my biscuits get brown on top? ›
Ovens set to 350 or even 400 degrees heat too slowly and cause the fat inside the dough to melt before rising to the dough's full potential. Finally, higher heat will generate more caramelization from the butter on top of the biscuits, leaving you with a beautifully golden crust.
