Cheddar Chive Biscuits and [Not] Pimento Cheese
First off, hello! I'm sorry I ghosted you. Secondly, I apologize to the Southern gods for this one.
The ingredients:
Cheddar chive biscuits:
2 cups all purpose flour (I prefer White Lily)
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
.5 tsp sugar
.5 tsp baking soda
1 c. buttermilk, cold
8 tbsp frozen butter, cubed
1.25 c. shredded cheddar cheese
.25 c. chopped chives
Calabrian cheese:
7 oz. cream cheese
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
4 oz. Calabrian chili peppers
2 tbsp. mayonnaise
4-5 cloves minced garlic
.5 tsp black pepper
.5 tsp onion powder
.5 tsp salt
.5 tsp smoked paprika
The recipe:
For the Calabrian cheese, mix all ingredients in a blender on high until fully combined. Move to a sealed container and refrigerate while making biscuits.
For biscuits, preheat oven to 425 and place cast iron or pan into oven. Mix all dry ingredients. Take frozen butter cubes and combine with dry ingredients, ideally in a food processor on high. The key to great biscuits is the butter being very cold and practically flaked and tiny in your dry ingredients. Put into a bowl and make a small well. Add buttermilk and combine until it’s barely come together.
Add cheddar and chives and do the same. Sprinkle counter with flour and remove dough from bowl. Work as little as possible, until all ingredients are well-combined, then fold like your life depends on it. When you think you’ve folded enough, fold it three more times. This creates layers. You’ll thank me later. Cut biscuits out with biscuit cutter. Place in cast iron and bake on 425 for 13-15 minutes.
The story:
Oh my god, first off, hi. It’s been a minute since I wrote to y’all. I pulled back from writing this newsletter/recipe-thing/personal collection of snacks because I got married and as it turns out, that’s a busy time. But on the other side of that, I’m happily married, running on euphoria, and figuring out what to do with all this spare time. Turns out, the answer is get back to cooking.
While I haven’t been posting, I have still been cooking. Spring was a moment of reckoning for me—as a born-Southerner, I’ve always faced off with the infamous battle of a good biscuit (why won’t she rise? why is she hard? is this the universe punishing me for moving to Brooklyn?). The answer to all those questions is: stay cool, and it will work out. I’ve found that a food processor and frozen butter will change your life.
Now that the biscuit is mastered, I wanted to get fancy. Like, “your mom is inviting her friend over that she doesn’t like and she wants her to feel like shit because her spread is so stupid good” levels of fancy. So I’ve been working on a cheddar chive biscuit with a side of pimento cheese. Problem is—I’m not a big pimento fan. It feels like chunky cheese for the sake of being chunky, and as a child who grew up shopping in the husky section, I don’t take kindly to something being chunky just for funsies. If I’m putting chunks of something in this cream cheese-based wonder, I want it to punch ya. And thus, I added Calabrian chilis instead. It’s the kind of chunky you won’t forget, which is also how I bill myself.
I hope you enjoy, and hey—it’s nice to see you. I promise this summer, we’re back on our bullshit. - Justin