Bacon Cheddar Biscuits

I have a theory lately, and it’s that dinner can be ho-hum, but when I serve homemade bread, it totally saves the meal. Or maybe it’s just that we’re bread-lovers around here. In any case, I made these biscuits recently and everyone loved them. Then we had a few leftovers and the kids ate them for breakfast the next morning with scrambled eggs and fruit.

Bacon Cheddar Biscuits

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup cold butter
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup cooked, crumbled bacon
• 1 egg (for egg wash)
• 1 Tablespoon milk

Directions:

Place flour, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. With the mixer on low, add the butter and mix until the butter is the size of peas. OR, if you don’t have a mixer, place ingredients in a bowl and use a pastry cutter to “cut” the butter into the dry ingredients.

Combine the buttermilk and egg in a small bowl beat lightly with a fork. With the mixer still on low, quickly add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and mix only until moistened. (If not using a mixer, mix with a wooden spoon until moistened.)

Add the cheese and bacon to the dough. Mix only until combined. Dump dough onto a well-floured board and knead lightly 3-4 times.

With a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a rectangle about 10 by 5 inches. With a sharp knife, cut the dough into 12 rectangles, or use a cookie cutter or large glass to cut out circles.

Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, or lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Beat egg and milk to make an egg wash. Brush the tops of biscuits with the egg wash, and bake at 425F for 15-20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and the biscuits are cooked through. Serve warm.

Side Note. Since I’ve been into food storage lately I bought some Bacon TVP (textured vegetable protein) to try. I wasn’t sure how it would go over since Jared was a little hesitant when I told him I wanted to add some “fake meat” to our food storage stash. But I after rehydrating the bacon bits and adding them to these biscuits, nobody had any complaints. Serity even snitched “bacon” by the handfuls while she was “helping” me make these biscuits. While the Bacon TVP is definitely not as tasty as a juicy slice of fried bacon, the bits are pretty good in recipes such as baked beans, or mixed in scrambled eggs. And they’re much cheaper and more convenient than cooking up a pound of grease-splattering bacon.