What’s there not to like about a rich biscuit? And filled with cheese? Here I made them to accompany a bowl of that Cheese and Ale Soup I told you about a few weeks ago. You can barely see a bit of it up in the top left corner.
Back when I made the soup the first time – the Cheddar and Ale Soup with Bacon and Shallots, I was testing it to serve at a lunch tea I was hosting at my home. It was a fundraiser for my PEO Chapter. There were 10 of us (8 guests and my co-hostess Linda, and myself) who came in early March. First we served the soup, sprinkled with shallots and bacon with this biscuit on the side. Butter was on the table, and everybody loved the soup – every bowl was scraped clean.
Then I did a tea demonstration. First I explained some little known history of tea – dating back to 2737BC (did you know that – the first known tea dates back that far in China?). I discussed types of teas (there are only 2-3 main categories of black tea) and the components of each one. As a young person all I knew was Lipton tea bags and an occasional cup of Constant Comment. So, I told the story of when I was first introduced to REAL tea, as I called it “praw-per” tea from my dear, dear friend in England, Pamela. And I opened 3 different tins of tea (Darjeeling, English Breakfast and Lapsang Souchong [a smoky tea, favored by Winston Churchill, in case you wanted to know]) to pass around the table for each person to smell. I also passed a jar of Lady Grey tea (a milder form of Earl Grey), and a packet of one of my favorites, Marco Polo, a blend from a tea shop in Paris called Mariage Frères (if you are interested, you can google it – you can buy it here and on their website, but expensive) that my friend Yvette introduced me to about 8-10 years ago.
At my lunch tea I demonstrated how to make a proper pot, from the water, the pot itself, the tea, the steeping, the straining, the tea cosy, milk, sugar, etc. First I made a pot of blended tea (a mixture of mostly Darjeeling and English Breakfast, with a small amount of Lapsang Souchong) that my friend Pamela introduced me to, back in 1981. We poured each guest a small cup (very proper decorated English bone China cups and saucers) so they could taste it. A couple of them weren’t so enamored with the smoky part. This was almost like a wine tasting, or an olive oil tasting. Guests could throw out the remains if they didn’t like it. Then I made a pot of the Lady Grey. Several ladies really liked that – it’s made by Twining’s. The story is interesting – it seems that the Nordic people do love tea, but they generally didn’t like Earl Grey – too pungent most complained. So in the 90s, Twinings decided to make a “new” blend, with less oil of Bergamot (that’s what makes Earl Grey distinctive) and some citrus notes to market to the Norwegian population, to resounding success, apparently. If you’re interested you can get it at Amazon: Classics Lady Grey Tea 20 Bag
Then lastly, I made a pot of Marco Polo (I gave them a choice, but most wanted to try it). It got raves by more of the ladies. That tea, from Mariage Frères in Paris (in the Marais district), is their unique blend. So I read somewhere, it has Chinese and Tibetan flowers plus berries and fruit, in a bold black tea. It’s very different from Earl Grey. No bergamot for sure. The Marco Polo has become SO popular at the tea store, they now have about 10 varieties. Click this link to see them all. I have the standard Marco Polo, none of the other variations.
During the tea part of our luncheon, I served my favorite Buttermilk Scones, that I’ve been making for about 30 years (half with lemon zest, the other half with added golden raisins), some absolutely gorgeous, huge stemmed strawbe
rries and an apricot tea square Linda brought. Along with my home made lemon curd and crème fraiche. And apricot jam. And more tea. We had a lovely time.
All that said, these biscuits – well, they’re a recipe from a restaurant in Encinitas (in San Diego County) called Solace and The Moonlight Lounge. It’s been at least 8-10 months ago my San Diego good friend Linda and I went there for dinner or lunch and we’d been told to be sure to order their biscuits. They brought them first, still warm, along with an orange honey butter to go with it. The recipe for that is down below in the next paragraph. Oh my goodness. Well, awhile after that, the recipe was printed in the Union-Tribune, so Linda sent it to me. Thank you, Linda.
They’re as simple as any biscuit, really. It does require buttermilk, though. And it’s heavy on the butter! But oh, so good.
What’s GOOD: they’re a rich biscuit (meaning there’s more butter than standard). The kind of cheese makes a difference – I used half Irish sharp white cheddar and some Tillamook sharp cheddar (yellow) and a bunch of fresh chives minced up. They taste wonderful. You might, just might, be able to eat them without adding butter on top, but if you’re going to indulge, go for added butter! At the restaurant they serve it with orange honey butter (1/4 pound unsalted butter whipped well to make it light, 1/4+ tsp orange zest, 3/4 tsp honey, a couple of dashes of salt and 1/8 tsp minced garlic, mixed well, refrigerated, then allowed to warm back up to room temp).
What’s NOT: nothing that I can think of – need to have buttermilk on hand and fresh chives (or you could probably substitute parsley). Serve while they’re hot from the oven.
Files: MasterCook 5+ or MasterCook 14 (click link to open recipe in MC)
* Exported from MasterCook *
Cheese and Chive Biscuits
Recipe By: Solace & The Moonlight Lounge, Encinitas, CA, 2015
Serving Size: 15
1 1/2 cups pastry flour
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter — cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons chives — minced
1 1/2 cups white cheddar cheese — loosely packed, grated [I used all cheddar this time]
3/4 cup Fontina cheese — loosely packed, grated
1 1/4 cups buttermilk — may need up to 1/4 cup more
1 egg white — (optional)
1. Sift together flours, baking powder and salt. Add butter, chives and cheeses and mis with a pastry knife or a paddle attachment of a mixer on low speed for 2-3 minutes ti incorporate the butter. There should still be small, pea-sized chunks of butter; this will make the biscuits flaky. At this point you can store in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for a day or two if necessary.
2. Slowly add buttermilk, starting with 1 cup and fold together for about 10 seconds. Move the ingredients around by hand and pour the remaining 1/4 cup buttermilk into the bottom of the bowl to make sure the moisture gets there. Mix again for just a few seconds. Add another 1/4 cup buttermilk if the dough hasn’t pulled together. Do not over mix the dough.
3. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead 2-3 times only. Handle the dough as sparingly as possible to keep the butter form melting. Using your fingertips, flatten dough out to about 3/4 inch thick and brush the top with egg whites. Cut into desired shape.
4. Preheat oven to 425°. Line a heavy baking sheet with parchment paper. Bake biscuits in the middle of the oven for 17-20 minutes or until golden brown. If you have a convection oven, bake at 400° for 12-14 minutes. You can crack one biscuit open to make sure it is cooked through. If it is not, reduce oven temp to 250° and check again in about 2 minutes. You can bake these ahead of time; when ready to serve, reheat. Be certain the biscuits are fully cooked through, however, as they will fall while they’re cooling.
ORANGE HONEY BUTTER: If you want to serve these with what they do at the restaurant, add this: 1/2 pound unsalted butter, 3/4 tsp grated orange zest, 1 1/2 tsp honey, 3/4 tsp salt, 1/4 T garlic, minced: Whip butter in mixer for 10 minutes until light and airy. Add remaining ingredients and whip for another 8 minutes. Use immediately, or refrigerator, but let it warm back to room temperature before serving.
Per Serving: 253 Calories; 15g Fat (53.3% calories from fat); 8g Protein; 22g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 44mg Cholesterol; 339mg Sodium.
hddonna
said on April 19th, 2015:
What a beautiful pebbly, golden crust! I can almost taste them! The Marco Polo tea is intriguing. I keep a ridiculously large assortment of teas on hand but am tempted to try it.