Cheddar Bay Biscuits

So the hubby brought home fresh eggs. Goodness knows how he got them-- he gave me some story of his mentor's assistant raises chickens and brings raw, unpasteurized eggs to hospital to either give away or sell, and somehow he managed to acquire a half dozen. Which he of course forgot in the fridge of the hospital and so they came home several days later, and we finally got around to fussing with them a few days after that. So we had a half dozen not-so-fresh fresh eggs, and we (or I) decided to poach them. Of course. Because I love brunch, and I love eggs benedict and poaching an egg is something that would help me enjoy both of those things.

The DH was in charge of the poaching process which he did pretty well for his first attempt.

I was in charge of the biscuits. However, it was a Monday night, and though I knew I was going to be making biscuits, I hadn't really given it much thought. But in Google I trust, and so when I came across this Cheddar Bay biscuit copycat recipe, I decided to go for it. Nevermind that I've never been to Red Lobster and therefore I've never actually had the thing that this recipe promises to deliver, but I mean, come on-- Cheddar Bay? Where is that and what's the rent like there?

Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits
http://damndelicious.net/2014/02/03/red-lobster-cheddar-bay-biscuits/

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
FOR THE TOPPING
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

INSTRUCTIONS

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat; set aside.
• In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, garlic powder, salt and cayenne pepper, if using.
• In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk together buttermilk and butter. Pour mixture over dry ingredients and stir using a rubber spatula just until moist. Gently fold in cheese.
• Using a 1/4-cup measuring cup, scoop the batter evenly onto the prepared baking sheet. Place into oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown.
• For the topping, whisk together butter, parsley and garlic powder in a small bowl. Working one at a time, brush the tops of the biscuits with the butter mixture.
• Serve immediately.

My Notes:

1. I may have used slightly more cheese than the recipe called for. The resulting biscuit was delicious, but it perhaps didn't rise as well as it might have had I not burdened the dough with extra weight

2. Not sure if my oven actually reached 450 degrees (my oven is finicky and unreliable and I hate it. I loathe it.) and THAT's why the biscuits didn't rise so beautifully.

3. Or perhaps I should've shaped them better-- I sort of scooped and dumped the dough because these were drop biscuits and I wasn't feeling energetic enough to round them out.

4. So either because of the extra cheese or the oven, these were very undercooked. Delicious but undercooked-- they never developed that hard shell outside that biscuits should get. And so the melted butter topping just made things more soft. Delicious, but soft.

5. Great on the toaster oven reheat!