Chive-Cheddar Biscuits

Now that the flowers of my chives are put to work, on to more immediate gratification–biscuits.

I will eat biscuits (really, bread in any form) with anything and love them flavored with everything. For my overload of chives, I finely chopped a good handful of the chives I cut back along with two big handfuls of grated cheddar cheese and a few of the chive flowers for good measure, the hard blossom end plucked off and the flower sprinkled in. They were spectacular, perfect under a layer of spinach and an over-easy egg.

With all the herbs I’ve planted, herb biscuits are going to be a great option to stash in the freezer for any future biscuit emergencies (…don’t look at me like that, that’s a real thing). I plan on doing at least one sweet biscuit with the lemon verbena (doesn’t that sound good as the base for a strawberry shortcake?) and another cheesy variation with the thyme (gruyere, perhaps?). Rosemary and black pepper biscuits would be amazing along side lemon chicken.

Chive Biscuits
I don’t know why people always make biscuits round. They’re so much easier to deal with in just about every way if you cut them in squares. Either way, this makes about 12 medium biscuits. You can play with the herbs, the level of sugar, the type cheese, whatever inspires you. Adapted slightly from Smitten Kitchen.

4 1/2 cups flour
4 teaspoons sugar (up to 3 tablespoons for a sweet biscuit)
2 tablespoon aluminum-free baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 large bunch of chives, finely chopped (maybe 1/2-3/4 cup?)
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
18 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (or, since it’s what I had around, 1 1/4 cup milk, 1/4 cup greek yogurt, juice of 1/2 a lemon)

Heat your oven to 400 degrees and cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. If you’re making your own buttermilk, mix together the milk, yogurt, and lemon juice and set aside while you assemble the rest of the ingredients.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in large bowl. Stir in the chives and cheese. With a pastry cutter, work the butter chunks into the dry ingredients until the largest pieces of butter are the size of peas and the rest of the dough feels like coarse sand. Add the buttermilk and stir until large clumps form and most of the liquid is incorporated. The dough will not completely hold together yet.

Dump the dough onto a floured board and scoop it into a rectangle-ish shape. Using a board scraper, large knife, or your hands, fold the dough over on itself a few times. Incorporate as much of any loose dry ingredients into the rest of the dough as you can just until the dough mostly holds together. Pat the dough into a rectangle about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick.

Using a board scraper or sharp knife, cut the dough into whatever size biscuits you want by pressing straight down. Transfer biscuits to the parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing two inches apart. (If you want to serve these later, transfer the baking sheet to the freezer until biscuits are solid. Wrap each biscuit in plastic wrap and store in a plastic bag in the freezer. You can bake them right from frozen, just add a minute or two.)

If you want to top biscuits with any herbs, coarse salt, pepper, etc. brush lightly with cream before topping. Bake until biscuits are golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Serve warm.