Cranberry and Goat Cheese Biscuits
I love a good biscuit. I like them insanely buttery, towering high and as flaky as possible. That’s a tall order and not nearly as easy to actually MAKE as it is to enjoy. But as I’ve spent the last couple weeks reimagining what a Thanksgiving was going to look like in this crazy 2020, it just seemed right to have biscuits on the table. But with a twist.
These biscuits are a mishmash of a couple recipes and turned out to be a really lovely recipe. The tart cranberries and tangy goat cheese are perfect for an untraditional meal and especially if you’re skipping a few of the basics usually found on the Thanksgiving table (i.e. cranberry sauce).
Of course you could skip the dried cranberries and the little bit of rosemary I folded into the batter but keep the goat cheese. You could even start with biscuits and a little glass of champagne before your meal for a celebratory bite. One of my favorite cookbooks, Bread and Wine by Shauna Neiquist recommends just that and I adapted a portion of her recipe for these.
Cranberry and Goat Cheese Biscuits
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons kosher salt
8 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, plus more for brushing
4 ounces crumbled goat cheese
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. And set aside. In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Use a whisk to combine the ingredients. Form a well in the bowl and add the butter. Using two forks or clean hands, work the butter into the flour until the butter is the size of a pea and small clumps form. Add the crumbled goat cheese, cranberries and rosemary to the mixture and gently combine. Pour the buttermilk over the ingredients and using a spatula, gently combine until a dough forms.
Turn dough out onto a lightly-floured surface and shape it so it’s about 1 inch thick. Use a round cookie cutter or small juice glass to stamp out biscuits, transferring to the baking sheet. Push the dough scraps together, reroll, trying NOT to overwork the dough and cut out more biscuits until you have 12.
Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator for at least an hour. . When it’s time to bake the biscuits, preheat oven to 450 degrees. Brush the tops of the biscuits with buttermilk and bake in the oven for about 15 to 20 minutes or until they’ve risen and are golden brown on top. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly on the baking sheet before serving.