Saturday, February 22, 2014

Saturday Brunch -- Farm Fresh Eggs, Sausage and Cheddar Black Pepper Biscuits

Happy Saturday! This morning we slept in late. While hubby ran our little dog, Spike, to the groomer to get beautified mid-morning, I whipped up a batch of my Easy Cheddar Black Pepper Biscuits. I wanted to have them alongside the "farm fresh" eggs I was gifted with this past week. If you haven't seen the beautiful eggs I received...click here to take a peek: ---> Farm Fresh Eggs. I browned some little "Three Cheese Mini Chicken Sausage" links by Old World Kitchens (I've found them at both Costco and Sam's Club) and then fried some of the beautiful eggs in Kerrygold butter. I had one egg for breakfast and hubby had two. Eating the eggs fixed this way allowed us to enjoy and appreciate their fresh taste more than we could in the omelet I made for dinner earlier in the week using them. The omelet had so many things in and on top of it that you couldn't appreciate the taste of the eggs alone. We enjoyed the biscuits, eggs and sausage along with some mixed fresh berries my son brought me earlier in the week (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries). We ate our "brunch" around lunch time and it will last us until dinner time. I snapped a few photos of my breakfast and biscuits. I've also copied the biscuit recipe below, too. Enjoy!





This is what the biscuit dough looks like when it's ready to scoop onto your baking sheet
Biscuit dough balls are ready to be baked
Voila...fresh out of the oven
Here's another shot of the biscuit dough balls before baking
Baked and ready to enjoy!

Easy Cheddar Black Pepper Biscuits

Ingredients:
2 cups blanched almond flour
3 tablespoons "cold" butter, diced
1 egg (or 1/4 cup Egg Beaters)
1 cup sharp shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/2 - 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
2 teaspoons baking powder (aluminum free)
1/2 cup heavy cream 

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 almond flour, butter, egg, 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese, salt, black pepper, baking powdercut in with a pastry cutter/dough blender until crumbly and all flour is slightly moistened and cheese is pulverized into the mixture. Stir in cream and remaining 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese; mix in lightly.  Divide and roll dough into 10 to 12  balls (I make 10) and place on a lined cookie sheet; do not flatten dough balls (this will result in a thicker biscuit).  Bake at 350 degrees F for approximately 18-20 minutes or until light golden brown; be careful not to overcook.   Remove from oven; brush tops with melted butter, if desired.

   

18 comments:

E. said...

I made these yesterday and they were awesome!! I only had 18% cream onhand, and maybe because of that, the batter was a little runny -- but I managed to get it into 12 balls and they turned out perfectly! Just wondering, have you ever tried making them in muffin tins?

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi E! I'm glad the biscuits turned out good for you. I have not cooked them in a muffin tin, but assume that would probably help make them more uniformly shaped. So far I haven't had my batter turn out runny...except for when I once subbed buttermilk -- and even then, they tasted great. So glad you enjoyed them! :-)

samudra said...

hey GG
i made biscuits for first time last pm, and i'm thinking the batter was too squishy…not really runny but close. you say cut in butter until CRUMBLY…mine was not crumbly at all, but very mushy. when i added cream it just became more so. when they cooked, they flattened out quite a bit vs puffed up like your pic. i used whipping cream, which i understand is same thing as heavy cream. they tasted fine but fell apart and, as i said, were more mushy than typical biscuit texture. they are more firm today but i haven't tasted them. i followed recipe exactly and used oven thermometer. any suggestions? thanks.

Kathy said...

Thanks for the recipe GCC! These biscuits look great and I look forward to trying it. RE: Egg Beaters as a sub for the egg, I just read an article that might make you want to edit your recipe. For those who observe a Wheat-Free lifestyle they should avoid Egg Beaters b/c they contain maltodextrin (which is often code for gluten - per David Perlmutter, MD author of Grain Brain). Here's a link to the article where I learned of the ingredients in Egg Beaters.
http://foodbabe.com/2011/10/11/fast-frittata/

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Samudra -- Not sure what happened with your biscuits. What kind of almond flour did you use? I'm asking because some almond flour is "heavier" than others. I used blanched almond flour by Honeyville (very fine grind). I know others that used a different almond flour had said the texture was different and when they tried they Honeville, it made a big difference in baked goods (not breading or pie crusts, etc.)...more so in biscuits, muffins, cakes, etc. Also, if you did use blanched almond flour (fine ground)...did you keep the dough in balls when you baked them? The first few times I made them, I tried flattening them a bit and it made thinner biscuits. Let me know what you used so we can try and figure it out. I have made them so many times and have not had the dough be "squishy" -- maybe a bit sticky...but not squishy. Whipping cream should have been fine. They are more fragile when they are hot and get better after cooling a bit and they slice more nicely the next day...but I put eggs, little burgers, etc. in them and they don't fall apart. I am puzzled but would like to figure out what happened. Let me know about the kind of almond flour you used. Thanks! :-)

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Kathy -- I actually have a carton of egg beaters in my refrigerator (my grown son only will eat those)...and there is no maltodextrin in the ingredients. I noticed the food babe post is from 2011 so maybe they had maltodextrin back then? It does have xanthum and guar gum...but no maltodextrin listed. I do avoid maltodextrin. :-)

sunshine2 said...

Do you think plain yogurt would work instead of the heavy cream?

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Sunshine2 -- I haven't tried it, but it should be okay (might slightly change the flavor). I believe someone told me they substituted sour cream for the heavy cream once when they didn't have it and they said it turned out fine. If you try it, let me know how it turns out. :-)

unter der laterne said...

i GG, I Just had the Cheddar Biscuits(sans pepper now, it is a forbidden ingr., for people with RA).
I had baked a whole bunch of these *heavenly little heaps* and froze them.
We just came back from a little trip. It was breakfast time, husband had his authentic *Swiss Muesli* and I grabbed a frozen
biscuit and cooked it on high setting for 12 seconds-Perfection!

It is such a perfect recipe that I think
it should just be followed as is . Why mess with it?
This is my little rant of the day !
More later-Barbara.

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Barbara! So glad you like the biscuits so much. I didn't know that pepper was a no-no for RA. It really does help to set aside things like that in the freezer to use later much like a convenience food, doesn't it. I am going to try to make a point of doing that more frequently. Hope you are having a good weekend! :-)

Unknown said...

How do you store the leftovers (short term)?

Kathy said...

GCC - Thanks for your response to my post re: egg beaters ingredients. That's very encouraging that maltodextrin no longer appears to be in this product :)

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Louis! I store them up to 1 week covered on a plate on my counter. If I'm not going to use them within a week, I freeze them. Just make sure you cool them completely before covering and storing so they don't get humidity and moisture built up to encourage any mold growth. :-)

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Kathy,

You are welcome. It doesn't appear to be in them any more (but I only have the plain variety). You know they also make "flavored varieties"...and I don't know about those. I prefer using real eggs, but others have asked if they work and I've tried them and they do work fine. :-)

Leslie P said...

Hi GGC, You have done it again!! This recipe is sooo good. I was trying to get a head start on some baking for the week and made these. Of course I had to taste one with a smidge of butter. Delish! Thanks so much for posting and photographing all your great food adventures.
Leslie P

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Thanks, Leslie -- so glad you love the biscuits too -- they are one of my favorites as well. :-)

Anonymous said...

I cook them often and they are soooo goood!! I substituted this time 14% fat sour cream for the heavy cream and they are perfect and delicious.

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Anonymous!

I've been told that a few times (about subbing sour cream) and that it works great -- so glad you are enjoying the biscuits -- they are as good as the "regular kind" to me. They reheat nicely and get toasty when reheated in the oven. We had them with dinner last night and they are good. :-)