Flaky Chive Biscuits

I still haven’t been brave enough to fulfill my New Year’s resolution of making bread that requires yeast. At first, it was only because I kept forgetting to purchase yeast at the market, but now I have not only yeast, but also bread flour in my pantry, so I really have no excuse other than the fact that I’m lazy. I haven’t let that stop me from making non-yeast bread though, which is much less of a hassle, and usually not very time-consuming. I recently made this Apricot Irish Soda Bread, which was absolutely mouth-watering. Currently, I can’t get enough of biscuits, which in my opinion are one of God’s greatest gifts. They’re perfect for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; eaten plain, as a sandwich, or slathered with just about anything. You can’t go wrong with a biscuit, unless it’s a crappy biscuit, which these definitely are not.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Sugar
4 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/3 Cup Unsalted Butter, Cold (Additional Melted Butter for Brushing on Finished Biscuits)
3/4 Cup Milk
1/4 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1/4 Cup Chives, Chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Place all dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Cut the cold butter into very small pieces, and then add to the flour mixture.
Cut the butter into the flour, using a pastry cutter or fork.
Add the milk, cream, and chopped chives to the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and fold it over onto itself a couple of times.
Gently pat the dough out to an inch thickness.
Cut the biscuits out using a 2-inch biscuit cutter or glass drinking glass.
Place biscuits onto a Silpat or parchment paper lined baking sheet.
Bake for 9 minutes.
Brush biscuits with melted butter.

Suggestions:

I always use fat-free milk in my house, so when a recipe calls for milk I usually add a 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream to 3/4 cup of milk to make my own version of whole milk. If you don’t have any whipping cream feel free to just use a cup of any variety of milk.
Dip your biscuit cutter or drinking glass into flour before attempting to cut out the biscuits.
You want to make sure to not overwork your biscuit dough. The flakiness of the biscuits will decrease if you handle the dough too much.
This recipe yields 6 biscuits.

Improvements: