Hey guys! We’re doing something savory today, and this recipe is super yummy and super easy! If you’ve never made homemade biscuits, they are really simple to pull together and so delicious on a Saturday morning (or any morning).

These biscuits have lots of shredded cheddar cheese and chopped Serrano peppers running throughout for a little spice. Let’s get to it!

How to Make High-Altitude Cheddar Biscuits

This recipe makes a pretty classic flakey buttermilk biscuit. It starts by mixing up the dry ingredients and cutting in cold butter with your hands or a pastry cutter. Then, we’re tossing in shredded cheddar cheese and chopped up peppers of your choice until everything is coated and looking like this:

Pour in the buttermilk and use a fork to gently stir and fluff everything together. At this point you should have a dry but clumpy dough- don’t worry or add more buttermilk, it will come together! Then turn it out onto a clean work surface.

You want to gently knead the dough together, and pat it into a large rectangle. It will still be a bit dry at this point. Use a bench scrapper to help you fold the rectangle in half. Repeat the process of patting it out and folding it in half 3-4 times. After that, your dough should be much more cohesive! Pat it out into a rectangle about 3/4-1 inch tall, and cut out 2-inch biscuits. You should get about 6, and then you can layer and pat out the scraps to get another 2 biscuits.

Pop the whole tray into the fridge for about 20 minutes while your oven preheats. Then generously brush each biscuit with the additional buttermilk, and optionally sprinkle the tops with flakey salt. Pop them into the oven to bake until they are tall, flakey, and golden brown! Enjoy them warm.

Tips & Tricks for High-Altitude Biscuits

Once you get the hang of the process, making biscuits is really easy. But I’ve got a few tips and tricks to help you along the way:

• Try to move quickly with the dough so that it doesn’t warm up too much, melting the butter. You want to go through the patting and folding process fairly quickly!
• Don’t knead the dough too much as over-working it can make the dough tough. You can knead it gently to get it started, but the folding process is more gentle and will bring the dough together.
• Don’t skip the folding process as it really helps the biscuits become tall and flakey!
• Don’t skip chilling the dough in the fridge! This helps the butter return to a very cold, solid temperature after you’ve worked with it for a while. This will also contribute to how flakey the biscuits are, and how tender!
• Use any cheddar you like. You can go with sharp, mild, yellow, or white here. Anything you like! I like to go with a sharp yellow cheddar because the color shows through really beautifully!
• You can use any peppers you like! I have Serranos in my garden, so that’s what I went with. But you can use Jalapeños, Fresnos, anything you like and have!

Hope you guys enjoy this one!

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Cheddar Serrano Biscuits

Servings 8 biscuits

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tbs. sugar
• 1 tbs. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 cup cold butter
• 2-3 chopped Serrano peppers
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 3/4 cups cold buttermilk + 2 tbs
• Flakey salt to top

Instructions

1. Line a large baking sheets with parchment paper or a non-stick sheet. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and pepper. Using a pastry cutter or your hands, cut in the shortening until the mixture has small, pea-sized chunks of shortening throughout. Toss in the chopped Serranos and shredded cheddar cheese until everything is well coated in flour. Stir in the buttermilk until the dough begins to form.

2. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead together gently. It will still be fairly dry at this point. Pat the dough into a large rectangle, and use a bench scrapper to help you fold the dough in half. Repeat the patting and rolling process 3-4 times, or until the dough has come together into a cohesive rectangle.
3. Pat it into a large rectangle that is about 3/4-1 inch tall. Use a 2 inch cutter to cut your biscuits and place them onto your prepared baking sheet. You can pat and re-cut the scraps once, and you should end up with 8 biscuits total.
4. Chill the biscuits in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Don’t skip this step! While the dough is chilling, preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
5. Brush the tops of the biscuits generously with buttermilk, and sprinkle flakey salt optionally on top. Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until tall and just golden on top.

Dough-Eyed

Hello and welcome! My name is Nicole, and Dough-eyed is a food blog for people who want to bake for their family and friends in high-altitude areas. Think of me as a friendly voice there with you in the kitchen, here to give you confidence when you’re baking, and to help you with the struggles of baking at high-altitude. Come back every week for new recipes, tips, and advice on high-altitude baking!