Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Black Pepper Cheddar Herb Biscuits (Rolled Style)

This week has been a fairly stressful week, so tonight I decided I needed some comfort food for dinner.  I had 2 leftover cooked breaded chicken breast cutlets from last night's meal that I was planning to make Chicken Parmesan with...but I decided that I really NEEDED comfort food tonight instead and for whatever reason, biscuits just seemed to be calling my name!  I decided to give wheat/grain free biscuit making another stab so I could have a "chicken biscuit" sandwich for dinner.  I tried making biscuits once before and they tasted good, but were more "cookie like" than biscuit like.  So, this evening I am giving it another stab -- I made 6 "Black Pepper Cheddar Herb Biscuits" with the hopes of getting a more biscuit like feel and texture.  Well...I would like to share with you that it was a huge success!!!  These had a VERY "biscuity" texture.  I wasn't sure if or how much they would rise, so I rolled mine between 2 sheets of parchment paper to about 1/2-inch thickness and spaced them about 1 inch apart hoping they might swell as they baked and touch each other to stay moister.  These definitely expanded and touched, but not so much in height.  Next time I will roll them out to 3/4 inch thick to give them just a little more thickness.  Even though they didn't get taller/thicker -- I was still able to slice them in half with a sharp knife after they cooled a bit by laying them flat on a cutting board and keeping my hand on top with slight firmness, using a very sharp serrated knife, cut them in half so I could make the "chicken biscuit" sandwich that I was craving.  I was SO happy and excited...LOL.  They always say "it's the little things" that make us happy....and these biscuits did just that!  These were soft, moist and tender and just the texture I had hoped for.  I was a little concerned that by slicing them in half and making them thinner that they might become too fragile and break apart while we ate our sandwiches.  That was not the case -- these stayed and held together perfectly from the first bite to the last for both hubby and I.  Tomorrow I look forward to making myself an egg sandwich for lunch with one of the biscuits.  Also, if you do not own a biscuit cutter or don't like to waste the scraps you get when cutting round biscuits, simply cut them into a square shape with a knife and bake -- I promise you that the biscuit police won't show up at your door and make a "non-round biscuit arrest".  ;-)  My overall review for these biscuits was "very good" and VERY close to traditional tender "southern style" biscuits.  I would consider and rate my previous attempt as "good"....so these were definitely an improvement.  I think if I made them 3/4" thick next time, they might just be rated as "perfect".  I served our Chicken & Biscuit sandwiches with green beans and almonds and some Cheddar Cauliflower Mash.  I snapped a few photos below for you to see as well as my new and improved biscuit recipe.  Enjoy!

Voila!
Ready to pop in the oven
Fresh out of the oven

BOOM!

Black Pepper Cheddar Herb Biscuits (Improved)

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups almond flour
3 tablespoons "cold" butter, diced
1 egg (or 1/4 cup Egg Beaters)
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/2 - 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
Dash of cayenne, optional
2 teaspoons baking powder (aluminum free)
1/4 cup cream or half and half

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly grease a baking pan or line with non-stick foil or parchment paper.  

In a medium bowl, add all the ingredients except the cream; cut in with a pastry cutter until crumbly and all flour is moistened and cheese is pulverized into the mixture. Stir in cream and mix in lightly.  Press dough together in a ball and place on a sheet of parchment paper and flatten out lightly into a circular shape; cover with another piece of parchment paper and roll out to about 1/2 - 3/4 inch thickness (these do not rise much).  Cut with a biscuit cutter and place on a lightly greased baking pan (I used non-stick foil) about 1 to 2 inches apart, being careful not to handle the dough too much with your hands (you don't want to heat up or melt the butter in the dough, you want it to remain firm).  Bake at 350 degrees F for approximately 20 minutes or until golden brown; be careful not to overcook.   Remove from oven; brush tops with melted butter, if desired.

***NoteIf you don't have a biscuit cutter, you can simply cut the dough into squares with a knife and bake them (there is no law I have seen that requires biscuits to be round).  

    

26 comments:

Shieldmaiden96 said...

Ah, I wondered about an egg. I did like the former recipe as an accompaniment to Chili, because it was a bit like cornbread and the cookie could be tossed right in the bowl, which my husband liked. I will keep these in mind if I need a sturdier biscuit. I found I'd better not make those too often because I like them a little bit too much!

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

LOL -- I agree with you Sheildmaiden -- if I find something unusually tempting, I try not to have them sitting around much and when I do -- I always make small batch (which is why I only made 6 this time). :-)

Patricia said...

Looks great! So happy to have found your cooking blog! You've got great recipes. Thank you for your hard work in posting them!

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Thanks so much Patricia! I hope you find a few that you like! :-)

Anonymous said...

I agree with Patricia! Your recipes rock, and the photos are so appetising! Thank you. I will try to biscuits for dinner with some fried thighs.

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Thanks so much bluekelebek! I hope you enjoy the biscuits! :-)

Rhonda R said...

moshingThese are amazing - especially with melted butter on top! They will be my breakfast treat for this week :)

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

So glad you enjoyed them Rhonda! It is nice to have them available for breakfast -- it makes you look forward to breakfast! Thanks! :-)

MJM said...

I just made these biscuits and I must say they are OUTSTANDING! These will be accompanying my crock pot roast beef dinner tonight. I omitted the Italian seasoning and instead of rolling the dough out, I used my ice cream scoop to measure out the dough onto the baking sheet. Exactly 6 biscuits. Then pressed the dough down just a little bit. I will be making these again! Thanks for the recipe.

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Thanks so much MJM -- I am so glad you enjoyed them -- and your idea using the scoop is great too! :-)

Luci said...

So glad I found your blog. I made the Black Pepper Cheddar Herb Biscuits tonight. They were delicious and my family loved them. We had them the chili (also delicious!). Thank you for the time and effort you spend to create and post the wheat and grain free recipes.

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Thanks so much Luci! I am so glad you liked them! :-)

Unknown said...

Just wanted to tell you these biscuits ROCK! I made them for the first time last week, to see if they passed the 'hubby test'. They did, they did! lol I added a little bit more pepper and some additional shredded asiago/parmesan. Found they were even tastier the next day after 'drying' out a bit. Anyhow, just wanted to say great job and thanks so much for posting all these great recipes...can't wait to try more! =)

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Thanks so much Karen! I am glad you enjoyed them! I use the "hubby test" too -- he is not wheat free like I am -- so when HE really likes it -- I know it's good enough for both the wheat eaters and us non-wheat eaters too! :-) Thanks again!

Anonymous said...

I just made these tonight and they were wonderful! Reminded me of the Cheddar Bay biscuits at Red Lobster. Thanks so much!!

Andi

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Thanks so much Andi -- so glad you enjoyed them! :-)

Garden Girl 30076 said...

After making this recipe the first time as true biscuit size, I kept thinking about MJM's suggestion to use an ice cream scoop and thought how much fun it would be to use my small cookie scoop and not flatten the dough. They make a wonderful snack when you have guests over! You can't eat just one and that's okay because they're small - so very good!

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Garden Girl! So glad you enjoy the biscuits -- what a great idea to make "mini biscuits" as a snack too! I will have to remember that -- you don't always want or need a full sized biscuit -- it's a genius idea! Thanks for letting me know you enjoy them! :-)

Anonymous said...

I made about 15 small biscuits with this wonderful recipe - and they were delicious!!! I put the left overs in the fridge sealed in a plastic box for later. While eating chili, I was craving some crackers -- so - I sliced each of the leftover biscuits through the middle (giving me a biscuit top and a bottom) - I baked these at 400 deg for about 12 minutes -- OH MY GOODNESS!!! Best crackers yet!!!! Thanks so much for the recipe!

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi there! I am so glad you enjoyed the biscuits -- and what a great idea to split them and oven toast them and use as crackers! Glad you enjoyed them and your tip is wonderful! :-)

123jbc said...

I didn't have cheddar cheese or Italian seasoning on hand so I shredded one cup of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, omitted the Italian seasoning and increased the black pepper and my husband ate three of them they were SO awesome! Thank you for all your hard work in creating such GOOD recipes!

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Thanks so much, 123jbc! So glad you liked the biscuits -- you really can substitute most any type of cheese or herbs to change the flavor or make them go better with what you are serving. The fact that your husband had 3 speaks volumes! So glad you enjoyed them, and thanks for letting me know! :-)

Anonymous said...

Hi, can you tell me please hoy many grams are 1 cup of almond flour? thanks...

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

You can use this link to calculate nutritional information, grams, etc. According to this it says 1 cup of blanched almond flour (which is what I use) is: 168g for 1 cup. http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php

Chele said...

I've found everything I've cooked of yours has been scrumptious!...especially the biscuits. Very much appreciate your work that goes into this and sharing your recipes with all of us.
An appreciative follower

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Chele -- Thanks so much! I'm so happy you are enjoying the recipes (and the biscuits)! Thanks for letting me know...and for the kind words! :-)