Bijouxs Cheese Biscuits

Guess who’s coming to visit? The holidays are here, friends are dropping by and it’s great to embrace spontaneity, especially when you have a roll of Bijouxs Cheese Biscuits ready to slice and bake; handmade Bijouxs for hungry guests.

The Bijouxs oven is back up and running at least for now, a holiday “miracle” of sorts, so time to get back to baking. Bijouxs Cheese Biscuits are all about cheese: crispy thin, rich cheese wafers, with a bit of crunch from pecans, and a little sass from the kick of cayenne pepper.

The inspirational recipe, Ga-Ga’s Cheese Biscuits, is from one of my older cookbooks titled American Family Style by Mary Randolph Carter. I tried the original recipe years ago, but over time I have tweaked the recipe significantly to create my own version of cheese biscuits. I doubled the cheese, halved the butter, and reduced the amount of flour. (Perhaps I was subconsciously trying to create a version of my favorite little cracker, Cheese-It, with their burnt cheese taste?) The original recipe also calls for pressing a pecan half on the top of each biscuit prior to baking. I dispensed with that part of the recipe due to pecans falling off at inopportune moments, and just chopped the pecans and added them right into the dough. Cheese biscuits are Southern favorites, and you will find many variations of this classic recipe.

The basis for the recipe is a savory shortbread, which is rather stiff dough, so if you have a stand mixer (i.e. Kitchenaid) it relieves most of the arm work out of the recipe. The dough is easily rolled into 2” logs, wrapped in plastic wrap and either refrigerated for 24 hours or frozen; either way it’s just slice and bake. You may store the dough for up to a week in the refrigerator, and in the freezer for about 4 weeks.

An important aspect in this recipe is temperature. The grated cheese and the butter must be at room temperature in order to properly cream together. The ready-to-bake sliced biscuits should remain very well chilled prior to placing on the baking sheets. I slice the biscuits, place them on the baking sheet and immediately put them in the oven to bake; placing the dough back in the refrigerator between baking batches of biscuits. Slice the biscuits 1/4 –1/8 inch thick – the baking time may vary based on how thick you slice them, keep a consistent slice for best baking results.

An important aspect in this recipe is temperature. The grated cheese and the butter must be at room temperature in order to properly cream together. The ready-to-bake sliced biscuits should remain very well chilled prior to placing on the baking sheets. I slice the biscuits, place them on the baking sheet and immediately put them in the oven to bake; placing the dough back in the refrigerator between baking batches of biscuits. Slice the biscuits 1/4 –1/8 inch thick – the baking time may vary based on how thick you slice them, keep a consistent slice for best baking results.

Bijouxs Cheese Biscuits make perfect snacks and are great at cocktail hour. To create a simple impromptu cocktail party, bake off some Bijouxs Cheese Biscuits, then add Bijouxs pantry basics such as bowls of assorted olives, cornichons, celery stalks served with Boursin or any soft herbed cheese, and add bowls of your favorite nuts – cocktail hour solved.

It’s great to welcome holiday guests and have Bijouxs Cheese Biscuits ready to bake.

Bijouxs wishes you all a joyous holiday!

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As always, enjoy. B