Friday, April 29, 2011

Bacon, Smoked Cheese and Fresh Herb Biscuits



It's been quite the week already, on Easter my daughter accidentally tripped on Mr. Rusty and I've been back and forth with him to the vet.  He will be fine; he is on bed rest though for the next couple weeks for a broken pelvis.  Luckily my daughter was fine; she was just upset she hurt Rusty.  So I've been playing nursemaid to him on top of my regular schedule.  He has already had lots of get-well wishes and he really appreciates it, not to mention the made-to-order dinners he has been receiving.


We had the whole nine yards on Easter, ham, lamb, tortellini salad, scalloped potatoes, desserts; I think you get the idea.  Good thing about making all that food is I had leftovers, day one leftovers are pretty enjoyable, day two are tolerable, but by day three I am just plain over them.  After a long day, I decided I wanted something comforting like biscuits.  I told my Facebook friends I was going to whip up some biscuits and this is what I came up with.

Bacon, Smoked Cheese and Fresh Herb Biscuits
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. fresh chopped rosemary
1/2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
1-2 fresh chopped sage leaves
8 tbsp. (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" pieces
3/4 cup milk with 1 tsp. white vinegar added (or buttermilk)
1 cup shredded smoked cheese blend (Cheddar, Gouda, Provolone and Mozzarella)
3 sliced cooked bacon, chopped (I prefer thick bacon that is apple wood smoked)
1 tbsp. butter, melted
Pinch of sea salt
1 tbsp. olive oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Drizzle olive oil on the bottom of a 12" ovenproof skillet and set aside.

In a food processor add flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, pepper, rosemary, thyme, sage and pulse once or twice to combine.  Add butter and pulse until the mixture looks like large crumbs. Stream in milk and pulse until barely combined.  Add cheese and bacon and pulse once or twice until combined and dough has come together.  (If you don't have a food processor add dry ingredients to a bowl then add butter and use two knives or a pastry blender to cut butter into flour, and then add rest of the ingredients.)

I like the strong flavor of rosemary so I added a little extra; it's up to you.  You could also increase the bacon if you want it to be the predominate flavor.

Put some flour on your cutting board and put dough on it and roll it into an 8" x 10" rectangle, fold it in thirds and roll it again and repeat.  Using a floured 2 1/2" biscuit cutter cut out biscuits and place in the skillet.  Gather up scraps, re-roll the dough and cut out more biscuits.  You should end up with 12.  Brush the tops of the biscuits with the melted butter and sprinkle with a little sea salt.

Bake the biscuits until golden brown 20-25 minutes.

For the last week I have been seeing some amazing white asparagus recipes and must admit to having white asparagus envy, I never see them in the local markets here.  I could find them if I drive an hour away, but that was not in the cards this week.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Gina

22 comments:

  1. Yummy...I could go for one (or two) of those right about now! Saving for sure. Poor Rusty...hope he's on the mend soon! How do you keep a dog on bed rest?

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  2. I was waiting for you to post this! They look absolutely delicious. Thanks for taking the time to share the recipe.

    And I'm glad that Mr. Rusty is on the mend.

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  3. These look fantastic!! So sorry to hear about your poor doggy. :( Hope he heals quickly..

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  4. Awwww poor little Rusty! I would be so upset if I did that : (...I hope he has a speedy recovery, poor little guy.

    These biscuits look extremely yummy, I just want to reach into the screen and yank one from the bunch!

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  5. Those biscuits look incredibly delicious! Love the bacon in them!

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  6. How delicious looking! These would be so great with a bowl of soup, yum! I love your flavor combinations!

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  7. Oh bless Mr. Rusty. I'm sure you're spoiling him rotten and he's well on the road to recovery :) Thank you SO much for these biscuits. They look incredible! I think I may have groaned a little when your page loaded...

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  8. Great looking biscuits! These would make a perfect Saturday morning breakfast with some scrambled eggs.

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  9. I was really hoping you would share this recipe! Looks and sounds so yummy! I am going to be making this soon! Thank you, Gina! I do hope Mr. Rusty is feeling better...

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  10. Wishing Mr. Rusty a speedy recovery! And, thanks a million for this recipe. It has everything I love - bacon, smoked cheese, fresh herbs in a biscuit. YUMMY!

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  11. Your biscuits look perfectly done and the recipe sounds so good, I remember you mentioning whipping these up on Facebook. I hope Rusty is better, poor guy. I hope you're having a fun weekend;-)

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  12. Poor Rusty! He looks precious.
    Those muffins though...yum!
    I love anything with bacon and cheese, so these sound like heaven!

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  13. As I scrolled down your post, I immediately got distracted by Rusty's loving, affectionate eyes...how adorable. Give him a big hug for me ;o) I feel terrible for how your daughter must feel. With all your love and attention, he'll certainly get right back to his regular self in no time.

    Alright, back to some baking goodies... Gina, what colorful and puffed biscuits, they look srumptiously perfect ;o)

    Ciao for now and have a great week.
    Claudia

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  14. I don't celebrate Easter anymore as my family is all in Italy but I would have loved to try out this biscuits. I guess I don't need Easter to do so :)
    I hope Rusty gets better soon. Looking forward to see you today Gina!

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  15. So sorry about Rusty...you could see it in his eyes, that he is not well! Poor puppy...give him a big hug for me, Gina!
    By now, I'm sure he is a lot better and you take such good care of him.

    Your biscuit are superb, and so easy to make. Love the bacon, and herb combination. Yumm!!!

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  16. Mmm these biscuits look incredible! I love all the ingredients :) Love your blog and glad to be your newest follower!
    http://cookskinny.blogspot.com/

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  17. Wonderful looking biscuits for sure, especially love the use of the smoked cheese here.

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  18. Oh my.....these look beautiful and perfect. I can't resist a good biscuit...I'd just have trouble sharing. ;)

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  19. Oh Rusty, I hope you are well soon...but in the meantime take advantage of mommies home cooking ;)
    And mommy, what wonderful biscuits! I swear my children would trade me in asap if they spent enough time on your site, lol. These are really gogeous!

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  20. Yum! I like the idea of adding smoked cheese to the biscuits...will have to give this recipe a try for sure!

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  21. Hi Gina,
    I hope Rusty is recovering well, with all that love and special meals I'm sure he is. Your biscuits are my kind of biscuits. I would probably eat like 3 in one sitting. Mmm my mouth is watering now.

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