This weekend we were supposed to be heading to London for a picnic – however, bacon seemed to have picked up a horrendous cold from Malaysia…and as he was just recovering, picked up another cold here! So he’s been progressively sick for the past few weeks, and compounded with his busy travelling schedule this week, we had unfortunately had to cancel . Oh well….I had to find some other way to entertain myself this weekend, so baking it was!

I’ve always wanted to make biscuits – American-style, not jammie dodgers English-styled. American biscuits are more like scones, eaten with a main meal instead of dinner rolls. As per my previous post, I’m totally in love with the butter-drenched naughty Cheddar Bay biscuits from Red Lobster. So copy-cat baking it is then!

I googled like crazy for a good copycat recipe – to my dismay most of the recipes require the use of Bisquick, which is also not sold here in the UK. AAARGH. I eventually found one that seemed passable, and decided to use that recipe. I should have really used my brains instead of just following the recipe blindly – the biscuits, although delicious, are EXTREMELY salty. This is probably due to the 1tbs salt that the recipe called for, plus salted butter & cheese. However, the texture seemed to be very close to Red Lobsters’, so I’m going to share the recipe anyway – omitting the salt and replacing the butter for unsalted butter. You could also add some parsley flakes into the dough, and temper the garlic powder according to how garlicky you’d like it to be.

Copycat cheddar biscuits

2 cups/250g all-purpose flour (unbleached or regular)
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
75g unsalted butter, cold, cut into chunks
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
150g grated cheddar cheese
120-160ml milk

For brushing on top:

3 Tbsp. butter
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. dried parsley flakes

Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and garlic powder.

Add the cubed butter to the dry mixture; I used my fingers and rubbed the butter into the flour

Add oil and grated cheddar cheese.

Slowly add milk, little by little until the whole mixture holds together. Add milk until the dough is moistened and you can no longer see any raw flour.

Drop approximately 1/4 cup portions of the dough onto an un-greased cookie sheet or a Silpat using an ice cream scoop or large spoon.

Bake for 15-17 minutes in a preheated oven at 400F/200C

While biscuits are baking, melt 3 tablespoons butter is a small bowl with 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder and the parsley.

Brush the garlic-parsley-butter combination on top of the biscuits immediately after they are done – the more you add, the more utterly butterly it is! Yums…. Best served warm

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I love it because it’s buttery, cheesy and light – if it wasn’t so darned salty due to the crazy 1 tbs salt the recipe called for, it would’ve been perfect!

You might also be interested in these

• Copycat baking: Famous Amos’ cookies
• Awesome America: Red Lobster
• Sundays in Leeds
• autumn roast 3
• Recreating Sydney’s Monuments