3/30/09

buttermilk & tarragon biscuits

Homemade morning biscuits. Ahhh, nothing quite like it right? I mean the smell alone drifting through the house, mixing with the smell of brewing coffee. Those smells are so comforting to me. This past weekend was all about comfort to me. I had a crappy week. The house hunting, the process of the down payment, price of houses not coming down as I thought they would like the rest of the country, higher than normal property taxes over here, these are all things that we are getting our way through as we try and finalize which house or houses to start the bidding on. So nothing is more soothing, comforting rather, than baking some comfort food that smell so good. Plus, I also curled with with one of my favorite feel-good movies: Sex & The City. Watching that movie always makes me feel so relaxed; those girls are in a way my feel-good friends, they lift me up, they get to play dress up, they get to be spoiled if only for an hour and a half and they have fun. (I know it's a bit of a fairy tale, but it makes me feel good and reminds me there is good in the world and all will be ok). I love how Carrie finally gets treated right. After all those years of bad dating, bad men, bad relationships she finally gets a good relationship (or rather Big finallys shapes up!). Best part of the movie? The part where Carrie & Big are apartment hunting and they see the perfect place with views of Central Park. Carrie freaks, and falls in love with the place, the views, the layout and says to Big "can we afford this?" and Big leans in, winks, and says "I got it." Love that--what girl wouldn't?


copyright 2009 dawn finicane

This original recipe is from CI, but I've made a few adjustments, don't I always? Feel free to do whatever you want with this recipe; it's just so versatile, you can add almost anything or nothing at all. My adjustments are in parenthesis. And yes, I added in fresh tarragon, cheese and ham and still put my jam on top--will you trust me on that one? Heavenly!

Cheddar Biscuits
Slightly adapted from CI

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder (I used 1 TB)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
3/4 cup shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups heavy cream (I used 1 cup buttermilk)
(I added in 2 TB fresh, chopped fresh tarragon)
(I added in a large handful of chopped sweet ham)

Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl. Stir in 1/2 cup cheese. Add 1 1/4 cups cream and stir with wooden spoon until dough forms, about 30 seconds. Transfer dough from bowl to countertop, leaving dry, floury bits in bowl. In 1-tablespoon increments, add up to 1/4 cup cream to dry bits in bowl, mixing with wooden spoon after each addition, until moistened. Add moistened bits to rest of dough and knead by hand just until smooth, about 30 seconds.
Pat dough into 8-inch circle, cut into wedges, and place on prepared baking sheet. Bake until just beginning to brown, 7 to 9 minutes. Remove baking sheet from oven, sprinkle 1 1/2 teaspoons remaining cheese on each biscuit, and return to oven, rotating baking sheet from front to back. Bake until golden brown and cheese topping has melted, 7 to 9 minutes. Serve warm. Should make about 8.

54 comments:

  1. Homemade biscuits + Sex & the City = can't go wrong :-D

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  2. I need to try this recipe - I cant make consistent biscuits to save my life....

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  3. I love a good biscuit in the morning. Lookin' good!

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  4. Homemade biscuits are the only way to go. I love the changes you made. I might try them with some rosemary...yum!!

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  5. Very little is better than the smell of coffee brewing and biscuits cooking. Those sound wicked good, tarragon is one of my favorite spices. Man, I need to make some biscuits...

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  6. I also loved that movie! Lat's watch it together sometime and eat biscuits as well, of course!

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  7. Tarragon is a great addition - my favorite herb! The biscuits look really wonderful!

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  8. Nothing beats the smell of fresh biscuits in the house. + Sex & the City, what a great combo.

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  9. Baking and watching Sex and the City is always a good choice.

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  10. I watched SATC like 4 times this weekend, lol. Love me some cheddar biscuits. I haven't really worked with tarragon before, but I would love to try.

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  11. Ack, this is good! And with the sweet jam too. Talk about a good morning!

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  12. Oooo... I'll have to try adding some tarragon when I make biscuits again.

    Yum!

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  13. I think you and I are on the same wavelength as I made some biscuits recently as well. I had been craving them. You always come up with a great flavor though, so I am totally stealing your recipe to try! I never did see the SATC movie. I figured since I enjoyed the ending of the show so much I didn't want it to be ruined by a movie. I hear they are making another one though!

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  14. Perfect! And so comforting, right? I hope thing start to shape up with the house hunting. It's such a long process.

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  15. Another use for the underutilized tarragon herb. Yeah!!!

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  16. My grandma used to make biscuits (out of the can) and we'd fill them with scrambled eggs, skillet ham, cheese and jelly! So good.

    I hope you find a place soon!

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  17. I'm not a big scratch bisbuit baker after the 'hockey puck' incident. Maybe I should get that biscuit cutter back out.

    I loved the closet best of all in the movie-what girl wouldn't want that?

    Did you have a Cosmo while watching?

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  18. i love your blog -- your photos are BEAUTIFUL!

    I actually just started a blog of my own, you should check it out! ;)

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  19. Oooooh, what a perfect combination. Those biscuits are amazing.

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  20. Sex and the City is my absolute favorite, the series and the movie, which I curled up an watched (again!) this weekend, too. It always makes me want to cook, too--they're always at restaurants and they look so great!

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  21. Hi - Just found your blog after reading your comment on MaryAnn's blog (Finding La Dolce Vita). That was such a sweet sentiment you expressed. Glad I discovered your blog too. I'll be stopping by often from now on

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  22. I'm totally trusting you! These look amazing! I hope everything gets figured out and goes well for you.

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  23. I've only used tarragon once before, and didn't really like it. Maybe I need to try it again, because these look great!

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  24. those sound like the perfect accompaniment to your feel good movie! SATC is high up there for me, but it doesn't top 13 going on 30. i don't know why i love that movie, but it do :)

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  25. i think this is what i need... tomorrow ;-) take the day off and join me?

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  26. I bet your kitchen smelled amazing!

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  27. Those biscuits look GREAT!

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  28. Beautiful looking biscuits! I love the sweet/salty/herby combo.

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  29. I hear you on the house thing - it was quite an overwhelming experience - so much so we decided to take a break to think about things more. Good luck.

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  30. Sorry it's been such a rough week, Dawn. Things will be looking up, for sure! And good thing you're such an excellent baker and can make yourself awesome comfort food!! These biscuits look divine...beyond divine. Man, I would love to eat some biscuits and watch Sex & the City right now! I guess I'll have to wait until next weekend, though.

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  31. Those sound amazing.

    I don't love the SATC movie like I loved the series, but that line is awesome. Jeff and I watched it together ans he said it's every guys dream to pull something like that. :)

    Hope the house stuff works itself out soon. That sucks!

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  32. Mmm, love savory biscuits - perfect with a little ham and cheddar. Delish!

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  33. i love the specks of tarragon--so picturesque! the jam's pretty easy on my eyes, too. :)
    wonderful bis-quits, dawn.

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  34. Yum! Buttermilk biscuits are the best.

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  35. I LOVE that you added fresh tarragon! These biscuit have to be way over the top! The biscuits look so light!

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  36. I love homemade biscuits...yours look wonderful.

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  37. those looks so amazing! i love the jam too, what a fabulous red!

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  38. We call call these scones in the UK. Real comfort food - especially with the aroma in the morning yum.....only do us women ever wake up to a nice home baked aroma or is it us baking the lovely scent? :-D

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  39. No way! We posted biscuits too :) Yours look mouthwatering as well ;)

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  40. Nice combo! I love the jelly shot!

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  41. Coffee time is one of my favorite times of the day. If I had one or two of your biscuits too, all would be right in the world

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  42. If my husband is reading this (and there is a good chance he is) I would like you to make these for me, please.

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  43. I hardly ever use tarragon! It should be put to good use in these biscuits I think.

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  44. What beautiful, delicious-looking biscuits!

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  45. Hi hi! I made up my own clean guidelines by googling "clean eating" and adjusting what others have done. Def check out the mizfit blog too- she recently did some posts on clean eating. Adjust the guidelines so they work for YOU. Rememnber- its not a "diet", just a more pure form of eating ;)

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  46. Can I have one, make that three? Please? They look and sound amazing - like usual.

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  47. Your biscuits look awesome, Dawn! This reminds me of that recipe you asked for. I'm still working on it for you - it's in a restaurant size batch and the measurements are all in pounds, but my Mom lent me her postage scale.

    I should have it converted and tested out very soon.

    The sunshine yesterday was lovely - I snuck in a walk on the beach. But what's up with today's return to gray, gray, gray...

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  48. I love your addition of tarragon - they look perfect!

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  49. Biscuits & Sex and the City? We need to hang out more often!

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  50. I loved these...with the butter..they melted in your mouth!

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  51. So - I'm thinking you can't go wrong w/these biscuits!

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  52. This thread reminded me of a girl I was dating a few years ago. She was a professional baker and was having her personal blog on the Internet. By the way, we met on a dating site https://datehookup.dating/apps/cambodian-hookup/. So this was my best relationship ever. She pampered me with biscuits and other tasty things every second day. Pity, we parted.

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