Cheddar Biscuits

Ingredients

This easy recipe comes together with standard pantry and fridge ingredients. And best of all, you can adapt it to your tastes.

• Flour: All-purpose flour is called all-purpose for a reason! It works well in many types of recipes, and it’s what I use in my biscuit recipes. If you are gluten-free, I would suggest using a gluten free flour product. Because we aren’t developing any gluten in this recipe (like you would in a bread or focaccia recipe), a gluten-free alternative might work well.
• Leavening Agents: I am using a combination of baking soda and baking powder here. The baking soda will react with the acidity in the milk mixture and provide some lift. The baking powder will also help give an airy and light texture to the baked biscuits.
• Butter: Butter is critical in a good biscuit. As the biscuits hit the hot oven, the butter melts creating steam which helps give the biscuits those gorgeous flaky layers. Keep the butter as cold as possible to achieve a good lift. You can use salted butter or unsalted. Just make sure to add less salt to the dry ingredients if you use salted butter.
• Dairy: This recipe calls for real buttermilk, but you can make it with milk that’s been spiked with a little sour cream or yogurt. If you have extra buttermilk on hand, make my Blueberry Buttermilk Muffins or my Apple Cinnamon Muffins!
• Cheese: I like the flavor of aged sharp cheddar cheese in this recipe, but feel free to use mild cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese or even hard mozzarella cheese.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

How to Make this Cheddar Biscuit Recipe

This is a pretty straightforward recipe, but I do recommend that you read through the whole thing before starting!

Step 1. Mix dry ingredients. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix well (Image 1).
Step 2. Cut in the butter. Add the cubed cold butter to the flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter or pastry blender, cut in the butter until you have a coarse consistency (Image 2). You can also use your fingers to pinch the butter cubes with the dry ingredients.
Step 3. Add Cheese and chives. Add the grated cheese and chopped chives to the bowl, mixing to incorporate (Image 3).

Step 4. Add buttermilk. Pour the buttermilk into the dry ingredients (Image 4). Using a fork or wooden spoon, mix well until you have a shaggy and wet dough (Image 5).

Step 5. Transfer. Generously flour your work surface and scrape the biscuit dough onto it (Image 6).
Step 6. Shape. Using floured hands, shape the dough into a rectangle, about 15x8 inches in size (Image 7). Flip the top third of the dough rectangle over itself like you are folding a piece of paper into thirds (Image 8). Fold the bottom third over (Image 9). This is what creates the layers in a biscuit. Repeat this process one more time by flattening the small rectangle back into a larger rectangle and folding the same way.

Step 7. Flatten. Flatten the dough into a rectangle that is approximately 1 inch thick and 12x6 inches in size (Image 10).
Step 8. Cut. Cut the dough rectangle into 8 individual biscuits (Image 11). When cutting, make sure to use a sharp knife or bench scraper and cut down confidently. The cut edges need to be sharp. If you use a dull knife or go too slow, you’ll end up pinching the edges.

Step 9. Dress and cool. Transfer the cut biscuits to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet (Image 12). Garnish with extra cheese (Image 13). At this point, preheat your oven to 425F/220C. Place the prepared baking tray in the fridge to cool while the oven preheats. The biscuits should be cold and hardened slightly before baking.
Step 10. Bake. Place the tray in the middle rack of the preheated oven and bake for 15-18 minutes until golden brown. Keep an eye on the biscuits, turn down the heat if you feel that they are browning too quickly. Let them cool for at least 10 minutes before enjoying (Image 14). Serve warm or at room temperature.

Expert Tips

• Buttermilk is key! Buttermilk is traditional in Southern-style flaky biscuits and it has a dual purpose. Adds flavor but also helps with the rise as it reacts with the baking soda. If you don’t have buttermilk, don’t worry! I’ve made this recipe dozens of times without it. Just use regular 2% or whole milk and add 2 tablespoons of yogurt or sour cream to it. Mix well in a small bowl or measuring cup to incorporate before adding the mixture to the dry ingredients.
• Change up the flavor profile. Fresh thyme or fresh rosemary work well here too. You can also use dry herbs if that’s what you have. You can also add some garlic powder to the dry ingredients if you like.
• Grate your own cheese. I recommend buying a block of aged cheddar and grating it yourself on a box grater. Pre-shredded cheese sold in bags has anti-caking agents added to it.
• Keep it cool! The perfect biscuit starts out ice-cold before getting baked to perfection. Don’t skip the cooling step!
• Use a biscuit cutter. If you have a biscuit cutter or a cookie cutter and prefer a round shape, you can certainly do that. But it’s not necessary in my opinion.
• Use a food processor. If you have trouble cutting the butter into the dry ingredients, you can use a food processor to do that for you. You can then add the wet ingredients and pulse to combine. Don’t over-process as this could make the biscuits tough and doughy.

Recipe FAQs

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