pat's Recipe

Cheddar-Bacon Biscuits

Category: Biscuits

Ingredients:
6 oz. bacon, diced
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbs. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 tsp. sugar
3/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
8 Tbs. (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces, plus 2 Tbs. melted butter
3/4 cup shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. buttermilk

Directions:
Preheat an oven to 425 degreesF.

In an 11-inch fry pan over medium-high heat, cook the bacon, stirring occasionally, until crisp, about 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate. Discard all but 1 Tablespoon of the fat in the pan. Using a pastry brush, spread the fat evenly over the pan bottom. Finely chop the bacon. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and pepper. Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in the cold butter until pea-size crumbs form, then use your fingers to pinch the crumbs into flat disks. Stir in the cheddar and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheeses and the bacon. Stir in the buttermilk until the dough just comes together.

Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and roll out into a 9 1/2-by-11-inch rectangle. Fold the dough into thirds, rotate 90 degrees and roll out into the same-size rectangle. Fold into thirds again, rotate 90 degrees and roll out into a 7-by-9 1/2-inch rectangle about 1/2 inch thick. Using a floured 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter, cut out biscuits and place in the fry pan. Gather up the scraps, reroll the dough and cut out more biscuits. You should have 9 biscuits around the circumference of the pan and 3 in the center. Brush the tops of the biscuits with the melted butter.

Bake the biscuits until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Makes 12 biscuits.