Cream Cheese and Chive Biscuits
Every general cookbook worth the paper it's printed on contains a section on quick breads. From years of cooking my way through these tomes, I have learned how to make perfect buttermilk pancakes from Better Homes and Gardens, earthy bran muffins from Fannie Farmer, decadent pumpkin bread from Martha Stewart. Quick breads are a class of kitchen goodies characterized by the use of leavening agents other than yeast to cause the batter to rise. That they don't require the kneading and rest-rise time that yeasted baked goods do is why they're labeled "quick." Aside from pancakes, muffins and quick loaves, other types of quick breads include waffles, coffee cakes and corn bread.
In our urban home, the most popular -- at any rate, the most eaten -- quick bread is the non-yeasted dinner roll -- known more commonly, and as befits its humble profile, as the biscuit. Fluffy biscuits come out of the oven just in time for a smear of jalapeno jelly on chili night, while on a chilly Sunday, biscuits plopped into bubbling chicken stew morph into dumplings. And nothing compliments a summertime peach cobbler as does a golden biscuit topping.
If ever there was a food that evokes war among cooks, it is the simple baking powder biscuit. Every cook thinks their version is the very best in existence, and each one of them is correct. For each of those recipes is the result of years of painstaking scientific process, as the exact ratio of fats (butter, shortening, renderings), leavening agents (baking powder, baking soda, salt) and flour; the precise cutting time and rolling technique and cutting tool and degree of intuition and prayer; the best moistening agent (milk, water, even vinegar); and the correct cooking time and temperature are all perfected through batch after batch that has everyone in the family expanding by two waist sizes.
Though I will admit I enjoy the labor of making baking powder biscuits and am amused by the anthropology of biscuit-making, I also like to make slightly different versions of this venerable quick bread. I serve dinnertime beef stew with cheddar biscuits touched with cayenne, and make lunchtime sandwiches on whole wheat rolls topped with glazed onions. To accompany light dishes such as omelets and hearty ones such as roasted pork or poultry, I like to serve cream cheese and chive biscuits.
Over the years I found a few versions of this delicate but very flavorful biscuit, but all of them were labor-intensive as they required the rolling, turning, and flipping technique by which biscuits rise in pull-apart leaves rather than puffs of dough. To many, layers are a signature of this species of biscuit. Not that I mind the labor, but I prefer puffy biscuits to layered, so I developed this simple, satisfying recipe which rises slightly to form a biscuit that is rich, tart, sweet and aromatic. These biscuits are perfect dripping with butter during a cool morning brunch or stacked on a serving plate for a weeknight dinner. Give these biscuits a try and when you've perfected your version, let me know. Maybe I will meet you in the cyber kitchen for a biscuit throwdown.
CREAM CHEESE AND CHIVE BISCUITS
This makes a small batch of biscuits. If you're cooking for a crowd, don't double the recipe -- make two batches.
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 3-ounce brick cream cheese
6 tablespoons butter
1 bunch fresh chives or 2 tablespoons dried chives, plus additional for garnish
Whole milk
Freshly ground black pepper
Flour for work surface
1. If using fresh chives, rinse the bunch under cool water and place on a double-layer of paper toweling to dry.
2. Place cream cheese and butter in a large bowl. Cover loosely with parchment paper. Set aside to soften, approximately 30 minutes.
3. Butter the bottom of a 14-inch rectangular baking sheet. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the bottom of the pan. Place the paper on the bottom of the pan; butter the paper. Place the prepared pan in the refrigerator.
4. Sprinkle flour onto the clean working surface on which you will be patting out the dough.
5. Sift the flour into a small bowl. Add the sugar, salt, and baking powder; use a fork to combine.
6. If using fresh chives, pat chives dry with paper towels. Align chives on a clean cutting board. Working from the tops of the herbs down, cut across chives to form tiny circlets. Cut enough fresh chives to measure 1-1/2 tablespoons. Cut enough additional chives for garnish.
7. Use the fork to incorporate either 1-1/2 tablespoons fresh chives or 2 tablespoons dried chives into the flour mixture.
8. Once the butter and cream cheese are soft enough to work with, use a pastry cutter to incorporate the butter and cream cheese into each other until the mixture is creamy and pale with no white or yellow pieces. It should be very soft; almost the consistency of frosting.
9. Use the pastry cutter to incorporate the flour mixture into the butter-cream cheese mixture. Once mixture starts to come together, use a butter knife to clean the blades of the pastry cutter, returning that dough to the bowl, and set the pastry cutter aside. The dough should be very soft but workable.
10. Lightly flour your fingers. Use a silicon spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl and push the dough into a ball. Use the spatula and your fingers to lift the dough out of the bowl and to transfer the dough to the working surface.
11. Flour your hands. Pat the dough into a square approximately 1/2 inch thick.
12. Dip the butter knife in flour. Use the knife to cut the dough into squares approximately 2 inches by 2 inches. You should have enough dough to make 10 - 12 biscuits of this size.
13. Remove the prepared baking sheet from the refrigerator.
14. Use the silicon spatula to transfer each biscuit to the prepared baking sheet, spacing the biscuits 1-1/2 inches apart. Return the biscuits to the refrigerator to "set" for 30 minutes.
15. Fifteen minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
16. Remove the set biscuits from the refrigerator. Use a pastry brush to dot the top of each biscuit with whole milk. Garnish each biscuit with a sprinkle of chives and a couple of grindings of fresh black pepper.
17. Place the biscuits in the oven. Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool slightly before serving.
In our urban home, the most popular -- at any rate, the most eaten -- quick bread is the non-yeasted dinner roll -- known more commonly, and as befits its humble profile, as the biscuit. Fluffy biscuits come out of the oven just in time for a smear of jalapeno jelly on chili night, while on a chilly Sunday, biscuits plopped into bubbling chicken stew morph into dumplings. And nothing compliments a summertime peach cobbler as does a golden biscuit topping.
If ever there was a food that evokes war among cooks, it is the simple baking powder biscuit. Every cook thinks their version is the very best in existence, and each one of them is correct. For each of those recipes is the result of years of painstaking scientific process, as the exact ratio of fats (butter, shortening, renderings), leavening agents (baking powder, baking soda, salt) and flour; the precise cutting time and rolling technique and cutting tool and degree of intuition and prayer; the best moistening agent (milk, water, even vinegar); and the correct cooking time and temperature are all perfected through batch after batch that has everyone in the family expanding by two waist sizes.
Though I will admit I enjoy the labor of making baking powder biscuits and am amused by the anthropology of biscuit-making, I also like to make slightly different versions of this venerable quick bread. I serve dinnertime beef stew with cheddar biscuits touched with cayenne, and make lunchtime sandwiches on whole wheat rolls topped with glazed onions. To accompany light dishes such as omelets and hearty ones such as roasted pork or poultry, I like to serve cream cheese and chive biscuits.
Over the years I found a few versions of this delicate but very flavorful biscuit, but all of them were labor-intensive as they required the rolling, turning, and flipping technique by which biscuits rise in pull-apart leaves rather than puffs of dough. To many, layers are a signature of this species of biscuit. Not that I mind the labor, but I prefer puffy biscuits to layered, so I developed this simple, satisfying recipe which rises slightly to form a biscuit that is rich, tart, sweet and aromatic. These biscuits are perfect dripping with butter during a cool morning brunch or stacked on a serving plate for a weeknight dinner. Give these biscuits a try and when you've perfected your version, let me know. Maybe I will meet you in the cyber kitchen for a biscuit throwdown.
CREAM CHEESE AND CHIVE BISCUITS
This makes a small batch of biscuits. If you're cooking for a crowd, don't double the recipe -- make two batches.
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 3-ounce brick cream cheese
6 tablespoons butter
1 bunch fresh chives or 2 tablespoons dried chives, plus additional for garnish
Whole milk
Freshly ground black pepper
Flour for work surface
1. If using fresh chives, rinse the bunch under cool water and place on a double-layer of paper toweling to dry.
2. Place cream cheese and butter in a large bowl. Cover loosely with parchment paper. Set aside to soften, approximately 30 minutes.
3. Butter the bottom of a 14-inch rectangular baking sheet. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the bottom of the pan. Place the paper on the bottom of the pan; butter the paper. Place the prepared pan in the refrigerator.
4. Sprinkle flour onto the clean working surface on which you will be patting out the dough.
5. Sift the flour into a small bowl. Add the sugar, salt, and baking powder; use a fork to combine.
6. If using fresh chives, pat chives dry with paper towels. Align chives on a clean cutting board. Working from the tops of the herbs down, cut across chives to form tiny circlets. Cut enough fresh chives to measure 1-1/2 tablespoons. Cut enough additional chives for garnish.
7. Use the fork to incorporate either 1-1/2 tablespoons fresh chives or 2 tablespoons dried chives into the flour mixture.
8. Once the butter and cream cheese are soft enough to work with, use a pastry cutter to incorporate the butter and cream cheese into each other until the mixture is creamy and pale with no white or yellow pieces. It should be very soft; almost the consistency of frosting.
9. Use the pastry cutter to incorporate the flour mixture into the butter-cream cheese mixture. Once mixture starts to come together, use a butter knife to clean the blades of the pastry cutter, returning that dough to the bowl, and set the pastry cutter aside. The dough should be very soft but workable.
10. Lightly flour your fingers. Use a silicon spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl and push the dough into a ball. Use the spatula and your fingers to lift the dough out of the bowl and to transfer the dough to the working surface.
11. Flour your hands. Pat the dough into a square approximately 1/2 inch thick.
12. Dip the butter knife in flour. Use the knife to cut the dough into squares approximately 2 inches by 2 inches. You should have enough dough to make 10 - 12 biscuits of this size.
13. Remove the prepared baking sheet from the refrigerator.
14. Use the silicon spatula to transfer each biscuit to the prepared baking sheet, spacing the biscuits 1-1/2 inches apart. Return the biscuits to the refrigerator to "set" for 30 minutes.
15. Fifteen minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
16. Remove the set biscuits from the refrigerator. Use a pastry brush to dot the top of each biscuit with whole milk. Garnish each biscuit with a sprinkle of chives and a couple of grindings of fresh black pepper.
17. Place the biscuits in the oven. Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool slightly before serving.
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