dill, red onion & cheese drop biscuits

There are a few dishes that I make over and over again. The ones requiring a recipe are taped to the side of my fridge. The list includes bannock, Molly's scones, chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and now there's this biscuit. I originally spotted the recipe on Bread & Honey and since then, I've made it countless times, always varying ingredients and so far, I've never been led astray. And it's versatile....it was a vegan recipe from the book How It All Vegan!that can be easily tweaked for dairy (like I have done below). They're good, easy and perfect as a side with soup or delicious spit open and topped with a poached egg.

dill, red onion & cheese drop biscuits
(adapted from Bread & Honey)
2 cs flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 c red onions, finely diced
1 T dried dill
a hearty grind of black pepper
a large handful of old cheddar cheese
2 T vegetable oil
1 c buttermilk or milk with 1 T vinegar or yogurt with a bit of milk mixed in

Preheat oven to 450F. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, red onions, dill, black pepper and cheese. Stir in the milk and oil and mix lightly until combined. Using a tablespoon, drop blobs of dough on a parchment covered or silpat lined cookie sheet. Bake for 12 - 14 minutes or until lightly golden. Makes about 6 - 9 biscuits.

i have reached biscuit nirvana: feather-light drop biscuits

I'm back from my bike travels and it was a good trip. No disasters, no road rash, just calm country island roads. There wasn't as much bike-riding as in our past rides, but it was leisurely and it was nice to be camping and enjoy time away from the computer. We went only on 2 of the Islands, Lopez and San Juan, which were very bike-friendly with lots of rolling hills and wide shoulders to ride on. All in all, I wasn't too keen on the small bit of the San Juans that we saw, I much prefer the hippy/laid-back vibes of the Canadian Gulf Islands. Oh well, I got to try Hawaiian shaved ice for the first time and now I've got to find some of that icy magic here in Vancouver.

I've been dreaming about the perfect biscuit for a long time. My very first try was a disaster and the results ended up in the trash bin. I then tried this recipe which worked well for me...easy to whip up, vegan-friendly and tasty. And while my biscuit making chops were satisfied at the time, I decided to venture out and try a new kind of biscuit: the winsome drop biscuit. Oh. My. What took me so long?

This recipe comes via Yum Sugar who used a Cooks Illustrated recipe and it does not disappoint. These are even easier to make since they don't require any fussy rolling or cutting. Just drop that slovenly blob of dough onto the cookie sheet and you are gravy (oh, gravy!). Enjoy.

feather-light drop biscuits
(Cooks Illustrated recipe)
2 c all-purpose flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 t sugar
3/4 t kosher salt
1 c cold buttermilk
8 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

1. Preheat oven to 475. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the first 5 ingredients. Set aside.

2. In a smaller bowl, mix together the buttermilk and melted butter. Apparently it should look like this (scroll down to #4), but mine never got to that stage. No worries if you don't get lumps, because my biscuits rocked and so will yours. Using a rubber spatula, add the wet ingredients to the dry, stirring until the mixture begins to pull away from the bowl. Don't over mix!

3. Drop spoonfuls of dough onto a silpat (or parchment covered) cookie sheet, about 1.5 inches apart. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until tops are golden. Serve fresh from the oven. Lovely smeared with butter or jam.