Cheddar-bacon biscuits

A couple of months ago, I was seeing twice-baked potatoes everywhere.  After seeing it in yet another magazine one day, I decided to make a couple for dinner.  You could get very creative with the filling but knowing my family, I made classic bacon-cheddar ones with scallions, and those potatoes turned out to be a big hit!  So I've been making twice-baked potatoes with some regularity recently.  When your little one makes a request for something you cook, you can't help but want to comply.

Easy breakfast (or anytime) biscuits with cheddar, bacon, and scallions baked in a muffin tin 

I really shouldn't have been so surprised those potatoes were such a hit.  The little guy loves bacon; if you ask him, everything really is better with bacon (particularly, pancakes and eggs).  Because of that, I usually have some center cut bacon in the fridge or freezer and a few crispy slices often find their way onto our weekend breakfast table.  It always makes me think about my own earlier obsession with bacon-egg sandwiches.  In more recent years, I've switched over to ham but I'm getting reacquainted with bacon again. 

So it was the somewhat-surprising hit of those bacon and cheddar twice-baked potatoes that had me making these biscuits.  I figured it was a safe bet that the fellas would enjoy the same flavors in biscuit form and sure enough, I was right!

To me, just hearing "biscuits" makes me think something delicious is coming my way. And, well, if you like cheddar cheese and bacon, you know the salty, sharp flavor these biscuits promise to provide.  To the mix, I added some sliced scallions.  I think cheddar and bacon just begs for something in the onion family to balance it out.  I used mild scallions/green onions but whether it be chives, leeks, shallots, or regular onions, I enjoy that combination.  Even the little guy enjoys his biscuits (and twice-baked potatoes) with scallions in the mix.

I've really been getting familiar with the simple recipes in my Sweet Paul book.  These biscuits are another adaptation of a recipe I saw in the book.  I turned his morning biscuits with cheddar, dill and pumpkin seeds into this rather more mundane, but still very delicious, cheddar-bacon-scallion rendition.  Once you cook the bacon and shred the cheese, the dough is simple to put together.  I like baking these biscuits in a muffin tin...you get nice crusty, cheesy edges all round.

These biscuits are a nice treat to make for Sunday morning breakfast.  That's what I did, serving them with some easy-over eggs.  Instead of morning biscuits, these would be equally great alongside a bowl of soup or chili, or with a crisp salad.  

I snuck a little whole wheat flour into my batch of biscuits, subbing 1/4 of the flour with whole wheat pastry flour.  As far as whole wheat flours go, I have white whole wheat, whole wheat pastry, and spelt on hand and I like to use them where I can. With the cheese and bacon, no one will notice any difference!

Recipe:

Cheddar-Bacon Biscuits
Adapted from this recipe from Eat & Make by Paul Lowe

- For 10 biscuits - 

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) cold butter, cut into small pieces, plus more for pan
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or substitute with all-purpose)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (4 ounces) grated cheddar cheese
8 slices center-cut bacon, cooked until done but still chewy, chopped
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1 1/4 cups whole milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, with a rack set in the middle position.  Butter 10 cups of a standard muffin tin.  

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour(s), baking powder, and salt.  Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter (or two butter knives) until you have a grainy mixture, with small and some larger lumps of butter visible in the mix.  

Add most of the cheese (reserving a small handful for topping), bacon, and the milk. Mix together with a rubber spatula.  The dough will be wet.  Spoon the dough into the 10 prepared muffin cups.  Top each with a bit of the reserved cheese.  Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes.  Let cool on a wire rack before serving.