Bacon and Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits

Photo and Food Styling: Kelly Vaughan

Before we talk about these bacon and cheddar buttermilk biscuits, I have an important confession. It would be irresponsible, in fact, if I didn’t fess up. I was born and raised in Connecticut, a state decidedly not known for their biscuits. I grew up, not on biscuits made with White Lily flour and handmade by my grandmother using a generations-old recipe, but biscuits from KFC. If you grew up in the South and are reading this, please don’t click away. I promise I did my homework. Despite my nutmeg roots, I now know a good biscuit when I see one. A good — no, a great — biscuit should be lofty and light with buttery, peel-apart layers. You should be able to count the layers just by looking at the side of the biscuit and then, inevitably lose count of said layers. The top should be golden brown, thanks to the magic of either heavy cream, melted butter or, my preference, more buttermilk.

These biscuits were inspired by a quintessential New York City treat — a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich. You can eat them as is, or tuck a fried egg with a slice of melted American cheese into the middle for the best breakfast sandwich ever. (Though you might want to have your cardiologist’s phone number handy).

Great buttermilk biscuits start with good ingredients. Here, I use uncured, hickory-smoked bacon and sharp cheddar cheese — the sharper, the better. While you may be tempted to use rich European butter thinking it will result in even richer, butterier biscuits, don’t. The higher water content in American butter is actually preferable, since water steams and steam helps biscuits to rise.

I recommend freezing both the butter and a block of cheddar cheese before grating them. Doing so will make it easier to grate them, which means that you’ll also get a more even distribution of cheese and butter throughout the dough, as opposed to larger chunks. Additionally, as the cold dairy heats up in the oven, it’ll create more steam which means more layers.

Cold ingredients are the name of the game here, which is why I insist that you chill the cut, unbaked biscuits for at least 30 minutes before baking.

These biscuits are best when consumed about 15 minutes after they come out of the oven, but they’ll keep for up to three days. Reheat them in a 375 F oven for about 10 minutes before serving.