Here’s a picture of breakfast this past weekend in the Eating for England household. I did this nerdy thing of telling Dan I wanted to make him breakfast and then shutting him out of the kitchen while I pottered about making a mess and surreptitiously sending bacon smells into the rest of the house. The result was indeed bacon, and fried eggs too. But the thing I wanted to tell you about was these biscuits.
Now, “biscuits” in this context is confusing to Brits. We use the word biscuit to denote what Americans would call a “cookie” in packaged form. So paprika and cheddar probably doesn’t sound so hot to any of my comrades reading. But fear not! American-English is different and once you’ve mastered the differences, you will realise that this is a delicious idea.
An American biscuit is kind of like an English scone, and infinitely adaptable as a base. Throw in various cheeses, herbs, spices, and so on to create something spectacular at breakfast. Add fried eggs and bacon and you will have me knocking at your door.
These turned out wonderfully – I was so happy since they were my first ever attempt at biscuits. Dan was singing their praises and that’s always how I know that I’m onto a winner.
p.s. thank you so much for all the birthday wishes on my last post – can’t sneak anything by you guys, eh? Dan and I went out to Restaurant Alma in Minneapolis for a glorious bday feast. Happy day!
Paprika and Cheddar Biscuits
from Joy the Baker
makes 12 biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika, plus more for dusting
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces
- 6 ounces cheddar, finely grated (about 1 cup)
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream ( or you can used 1 cup whole milk and 1/2 cup sour cream)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or use a Silpat!) and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar and paprika. Using a pastry blender, or your fingers, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles course meal with a few larger clumps remaining. Stir in the cheese with a fork.
- Add the cream (or milk and sour cream); using a rubber spatula, stir until the dough just comes together. The dough will be slightly sticky; don’t over mix. Using a 1/4-cup measure, scoop mounds of dough about 1 1/2-inches apart of the prepared baking sheet. Lightly dust with paprika.
- Bake, rotating the sheet halfway through baking, until golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes. Slide parchment/silpat and biscuits onto a wire rack to cool or let biscuits cool on pan for 5 minutes before removing onto a wire rack with a spatula. Serve warm or at room temperature with crispy bacon and runny, fried eggs. You could throw in a blood orange mimosa too. I would support that decision.
