I've been wanting to try the Cheese and Chive biscuits I saw from the Williams-Sonoma baking book for a while now. The ingredients sound healthy (very little butter and no sugar!), best of all, it looked yummy!
It was not difficult to prepare at all. Although I do need a pastry cutter pronto! the "2 knifes" tactic was painful for my wrists after a while and it took ages to get the mixture to resemble "coarse crumbs".
Alas, all' s well that ends well (feeling slightly Shakespeare-ish. Hm I wonder if they had Cheddar Chive biscuits or scones in the 1500s). Snap back to the current day. lol. I added a little extra cheese since the cheese I used was not super strong cheddar. I also cut the dough into tiny circles, slightly bigger than a 50 sen coin.
The results:
Like how a biscuit should be, it was crispy on the outside. Inside, it was slightly moist and doughy. Not too dry overall. The cheese smelt divine and the chives gave the biscuit a savoury flavour.
I popped one into my mouth warm and fresh from the oven. It reminded me of the Chive and Onion biscuits I recently bought near my office as a tea time snack. Hm... now where did the onion relation come in. It must have been the chive taste, which is slightly herby.
Would I make this again? YES in a heartbeat. It would go well with creamy soups or even a hot cup of tea.
Cheddar Chive Biscuits
from Williams-Sonoma baking
Ingredients:
315 g flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (can be omitted as cheddar cheese is slightly salty)
60 g finely shredded extra-sharp Cheddar cheese
10 g minced fresh chives
90 g butter, unsalted, cold and cut into cubes
180 ml milk
Instructions:
1. Line a rimless baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, cheese and chives. Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in the butter until the mixture forms coarse crumbs about the size of peas. Add milk to the dry ingredients and using a rubber spatula, stir until just evenly moistened.
3. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and press together gently Knead the dough about 6 times and form into a ball. Pat into a circle about 2cm thick. Using a floured biscuit cutter, cut out rounds and place them on the sheet, spacing about 1 inch apart. Gather the scraps, pat out again and cut more biscuits. Bake until biscuits are golden brown, about 15-18 minutes.
Makes 12 (if using the recommended 7.5 cm cutter)
I used the smaller cutter and got a good 20+ biscuits
