Sumptuous, savoury and irresistible, that’s how I’d describe these clouds of cheesy goodness. These cheddar biscuits are a spin on my classic buttermilk biscuit recipe and have just a handful of ingredients. They’re easy to make, decadent and full of flavour. In fact, I think these are one of my best biscuit recipes ever! The texture is light, bouncy, soft and oh so moist. These definitely aren’t dry crumbly biscuits…nah hah..no way! Oh, and did I mention you can make them in 15 minutes all from scratch?

Yep…Cheddar biscuits in 15 minutes, hot, fresh and ready to be enjoyed. Tempting right?

These cheddar biscuits are just so good. Mmmhmmm. So good!

So good that they should come with a warning. “Addictive! Can’t eat just one!” Now, I’ll admit, I’ve participated in the “eat just one biscuit challenge” quite a few times. I’ll be truthful and admit I’ve failed miserably every time. I don’t feel too bad though and neither should you if you just so happen to eat half a batch by yourself. I may or may not have done that already….but hey who’s counting?!

These cheddar biscuits are truly a pleasure. They smell gorgeous, taste incredible hot out of the oven and even when cooled to room temperature. What I will say though, as they cool the flavours get slightly more pronounced.

Speaking about flavours, I’ve added fragrant thyme to the dough, some honey for balance, and a simple garlic butter topping with chopped parsley to amplify the deliciousness of these cheddar biscuits.

Buttermilk makes these biscuits moist, cheese makes them melty and delicious and the garlic butter topping makes them decadently sinful.

Now let’s delve straight in and talk about the key ingredients, the first of which is Buttermilk.

The function of Buttermilk in Biscuits

I really like using buttermilk in baking. It always adds a tenderness and moistness to all my baked goods, including these biscuits. Buttermilk serves 3 functions in baking: adds moisture, tenderizes, and acts as a leavening agent.

Adds Moisture: Buttermilk has a thicker, denser consistency in comparison to milk and that thicker consistency slows down how quickly moisture evaporates during the baking process.

Tenderizer: The acidity in buttermilk softens the gluten strands making biscuits far more tender and soft.

Leavening Agent: When buttermilk reacts with baking soda, carbon dioxide is released giving biscuits a rise. Buttermilk also similarly reacts with baking powder though not as dramatically.

Top 2 Buttermilk Substitutes

Milk and Lemon Juice/Vinegar: Adding a small amount of acid to milk is by far the easiest and most accessible substitute. To make your own buttermilk substitute: Combine 1 tbsp. lemon juice, or white vinegar to 1 cup milk, stir and allow to sit until the milk becomes slightly curdled, then it’s ready to use.

Yogurt: Yogurt has similar properties to buttermilk in that it has a tangy flavour and a similar consistency. You can use unsweetened plain yogurt as a great buttermilk substitute, but you’ll have to thin it out with water. The thickness of your yogurt will determine how much water you’ll need to add. Greek style yogurt is thicker than plain yogurt so you’d have to add slightly more water but a general guide is 3/4 cup yogurt + 1/4 cup water.

Frozen Butter and Biscuits

Frozen butter is my secret ingredient in biscuit making…well, frozen butter and a hot oven. When the cold butter within the biscuit dough hits a very hot oven, it immediately starts melting, creating pockets of steam. These steam pockets contribute to rise, poof and a network of subtle air pockets within the crumb.

In order for frozen butter to work it’s magic I take a few extra precautions to ensure perfect results. The cardinal rule…Never Ever allow the butter to melt! I always handle the dough minimally to avoid my hands warming up the butter, I always keep my buttermilk chilled right up to the point before adding it into my bowl and I work in a cool kitchen.

On particularly hot days, I keep my work bowl and my flour in the freezer for approximately half hour. After forming the dough, I also refrigerate it for an hour to keep the butter cold.

What type of Cheddar Cheese should I use?

A combination of mild and sharp cheddar gets the job done. Both types have great melt-ability but if we’re taking about age that’s another story entirely. Here’s a cheesy fact :The more aged the cheese, the less moisture it contains. Sharp cheddar tends to be aged longer then mild cheddar and has a more robust flavour. Mild cheese tend to be aged minimally, between two to three months. Now the origin of a cheese as well as the diet of the cows also play a role in flavour and the colour of cheese.

How to store Biscuit Dough

Always wrap your dough in cling film and place in a freezer safe, air tight bag. I’ve found that it’s the best way to keep the dough moist and preserve the quality. Biscuit dough can be stored like this in the fridge for 2 days and up to a month in the freezer. Freezer stored dough should be removed from the freezer and allowed to defrost in the chilling section of the fridge for 1 day before rolling, cutting and baking.

Biscuit Topping

Melted butter, garlic and fresh chopped parsley. This simple topping takes these amazing cheddar biscuits up a notch.

It’s like moving from good to better. From spring to summer, from Lassie to the littlest Hobo, from Elvis Presley to Led Zepplin, from Dr. No to Raoul Silva, from David Beckham to Lionel Messi from an ice cream sundae with one cherry to an ice cream sundae with 2 cherries…and whipped cream.

These cheddar biscuits are pretty irresistible, and just like that…one biscuit turns into two (and two turns to three but who’s counting?!). The beauty of baking these cheddar biscuits is that you can share.

So we can start with one for me and one for you and then another one for me…just saying!