When it comes to biscuits, I haven’t always had the best luck. All too often my biscuits are dense and dry despite following the “rules” – really cold ingredients (especially the butter if it’s part of the recipe), cutting the butter in only until the pieces are pea-sized, not working the dough too much, not twisting when cutting, etc. Maybe I should blame it on my northern roots – I definitely don’t remember eating many biscuits as a child, but for whatever reason flaky, tender, buttery biscuits have eluded me. Until now that is.
Enter Ina Garten’s chive biscuits, which I found while flipping through her book Barefoot Contessa Family Style. I decided to give them a go to accompany the chili I made for dinner this week – we had a few cold, damp days and chili and biscuits seemed like the perfect comfort food. These biscuits are made using a stand mixer (though certainly you could do it by hand too) and I think this is now my preferred method for making biscuit dough. I really felt like the mixer made it easy to pull the dough together without overworking it. Instead of cutting rounds from the biscuit dough, I patted mine into a rectangle and just used a knife to divide the dough into eight biscuits. I kept peeking into the oven (through the window) to see if they were rising as they baked, and they did! These were the biscuits I’ve been waiting for – light and fluffy, tender on the inside, with just a bit of subtle flavor imparted by the chives. They were fabulous, especially warm from the oven! If chives aren’t your thing, you could substitute just about any other herb or a combination of herbs or even cheese.
Chive Biscuits
from Barefoot Contessa Family Style, by Ina Garten
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cubed
3/4 cup half and half
1/2 cup chopped fresh chives
1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon water (optional egg wash)
Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Add the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low briefly to combine. Add the butter to the bowl and mix on low speed until the pieces of butter are the size of peas. With the mixer still on low speed, add the half and half to the bowl in a steady stream. Mix only until just combined. Add the chives and mix briefly just to distribute them throughout the dough.
Sprinkle your work surface with flour and turn the dough out of the bowl. Pat the dough into a rectangle about 3/4-inch thick. Cut rounds from the dough with a 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter (cut straight down, don’t twist the cutter). Transfer the rounds to the prepared baking sheet. Brush the tops of the biscuits with the egg wash, if using.
Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until the tops are browned.
Yields 8 biscuits
Yum! I’ve had my eye on those biscuits (OK, I could say the same about every BC recipe) and I’m glad to know they came together so easily. They look delicious!
Yay! I’m so glad you found a winning biscuit! We love Ina’s scones and they use the same method. These look so great I need to make them for dinner soon.
These were very tasty biscuits, thanks for making them!
YAY!! Tracey!! Congrats on successful biscuits. They look delicious. I love biscuits with add ins and chives sound perfect.
Glad these worked out for you. Maybe there IS a little Southerner in you after all.
I love the shape of these biscuits…and the inclusion of chives…yum! I also saw that you made homemade poptarts; I did the same last week. So cute!
These look awesome Tracey. They must have gone so well with the chilli. You gotta love Ina recipes.
These do look really light and flaky! That’s the best way to have biscuits.
I’ve been avoiding biscuits because I’m super afraid that my northern roots will shine through and they’ll end up seriously crappy, But this is one recipe I’ll have to try!
Yum… I LOVE biscuits, and these look amazing. I am saving this recipe because I have some chives coming up in my garden. Now I know what I will do with them!
Those look so good, yay for biscuit success! I like how you assess your lack of success to your roots; we never really had biscuits either and I feel the same way.
Oh! These biscuits sound and looks so tasty, full of flavor…they look awesome 🙂
Those look absolutely yummy!
Trying these as soon as I grab some chives. Oh yes, these will be mine!!
Wow! They look really fantastic. I like the mixer method too. Oh, and the chives sound great!
Mmmm…. I grow chives every summer (love them) – and will be noting this recipe! These look wonderful – how can they not, coming from Ina? So glad these worked for you – biscuits are (for me) – haphazard at best!
Those biscuits look incredible! My chives made it through the winter and are going strong so I have plenty to use up. I need to make a note to make these with dinner soon.
Yum!
I think those Southern biscuits get so tall because they use shortening. Us Northerners seem to lean toward butter.