Breakfast, brunch or dinner, biscuits are a winner in my book.  I can eat them all the time and my niece feels the same way.  It’s her most requested thing to eat when she comes over to my apartment.  I enjoy reading and baking new variations but when asked she replies “no, I’m okay with cheddar.”  Not always the response I want to hear seeing that I’m on this quest to bake the perfect batch of biscuits.  Though she’d eat anything I cook I’m happy to oblige with cheddar biscuits.

When I make biscuits at home for myself, whether its buttermilk, cracked black pepper or plain biscuits made with whole milk to be eaten with creamy butter and fruit preserve, I always use my ‘one cup rule.’  Yip, one cup of flour yields the right amount of biscuits for my single life cooking – I’m not overwhelmed with food and there is no wastage.  I used 2 ½ cups of AP flour this go around creating a bigger biscuit.  Cold ingredients of course, I even put the dough in the fridge to chill out while I preheated the oven.

Yields 9 big biscuits

2 ½ cups of AP flour
1 ½ tsp of Baking Powder
1 tsp of Salt
½ tsp of Black Pepper
6 Tbsp. of cold Butter, 2 Tbsp. of melted Butter
6 oz. of sharp White Cheddar Cheese
8 oz. of Heavy Cream

Preheat the oven to 375

In a mixing bowl, measure out and sift all dry ingredients.  With a paddle and on a low speed, mix dry ingredients in a stand mixer before combining the grated cheese.  Add the cold grated butter, making sure it gets incorporated evenly.  Still on a low speed, pour the heavy cream and mix until moist and roughly combined.  Allow to rest in the fridge for a minute.

Place dough on a floured surface and knead lightly, about 4-5 times.  Using your hands, form the dough into a square-like shape, use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to about 1 1/2 to 2 inches high.  Cut into squares with a bench scrapper.  For the smaller ‘end’ pieces, knead and form a square with the dough once more and cut into bigger sized biscuits.  Lay on a buttered baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes.  Brush with melted butter and let cook for another 5 minutes.  Serve hot or warm.

Notes
– I sifted the dry ingredients.
– I grated unsalted butter instead of cutting into small cubes this time and placed it back in the fridge until I was ready to use it.
– Normally I make biscuits by hand but today I used my stand mixer then kneaded the dough for a quick second.