Cheddar and Chive Biscuits + Sea Salt and Maple Butter

A couple of years ago, I ate at BLT Fish in New York. I don’t really remember much about the meal or even what I ordered, but I do remember thinking how nice it was that they gave me this:

It’s a recipe for their cheddar and chive biscuits, which they serve before the meal. I’ve had it tucked away for a long time, but I finally got around to trying it out.

Even with the recipe in hand, it took me a few tries to get these biscuits right. They could only fit so many words on that tiny tag, so the recipe is really vague and unfortunately missing a step–the step explaining what you do with the dough before you put it in the oven.

I had no idea if they were drop biscuits or if they needed to be cut out with a biscuit cutter, so I tried it both ways. Both resulted in totally delicious, but really flat biscuits (what I like to call “cheddar and chive cookies”). So on to another technique…

Then I tried the method that Heidi Swanson used on her Yogurt Biscuits in her book Super Natural Every Day. It required me to use a food processor, cut and stack the dough multiple times, and then bake them in a very hot oven on a preheated baking sheet. It totally worked!

The end result: the lightest, fluffiest biscuits you will ever have.

And if you have time to make the Sea Salt and Maple Butter, you should. The sweet and salty combination in the butter makes these biscuits even more delicious.

Cheddar and Chive Biscuits
Adapted from BLT Fish (ingredients) and Super Natural Every Day (method)

Using good cheese counts in this recipe. Get a hunk of good quality sharp cheddar and grate it yourself for these biscuits–it makes all the difference.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling out the dough
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 1/4 cup heavy cream, cold

Heat the oven to 450 degrees with the rack in the middle position and place a clean ungreased baking sheet in the oven to preheat too.

In a food processor, pulse the flour, baking powder, salt, and cayenne pepper together until well mixed. Add the butter, chives, and cheddar and pulse about 20 times, until there are tiny pebbles of butter throughout. Add the cream and pulse a few times until the cream is incorporated and the dough just comes together. Be careful not to overmix the dough at this point, a few dry patches are fine.

Turn out the dough on a clean lightly floured counter and knead a few times to bring it together. Then pat the dough into a 1-inch thick square. Cut the square in half and stack the halves on top of each other. Repeat this process 2 more times—flattening the dough, cutting the dough, and stacking the dough (adding flour as needed). Then press or roll out the dough to a 3/4-inch thick rectangle and cut the dough into 8 even squares with a sharp knife.

Transfer the biscuits to the hot preheated baking sheet and bake for 14 to 16 minutes, until the tops and bottoms are a deep golden color and the biscuits are cooked all the way through. Serve hot or warm with sea salt and maple butter (recipe follows).

Makes 8 biscuits.
 

Sea Salt and Maple Butter
Inspired by BLT Fish

My recipe card from BLT Fish says to serve the biscuits with “sea salt butter and maple syrup.” I decided to make a compound butter with sea salt and maple syrup instead. Any leftovers are great for toast, bagels, and whatever else you can think of!

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure grade B maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt (adjust to taste)

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl. Serve butter at room temperature for maximum spreadability. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

See more: Biscuits • Cheddar • Chives • Quick Breads