Every once in a while you meet some really special people at the Farmers Market. Last season I met Kristin and her family. Their two girls - Cordelia and Gwen are very sweet. You might have even seen the drawings they brought me or their pictures on Instagram last year. Well I was lucky enough to have them bring me some delicious home made scratch biscuits that they said I had to try with some Lucille's Gourmet Barrel-Aged Honey. I told Cordelia I would do one better and make my own version of an Egg McMuffin with the biscuits, take some pictures and show her how to make them too. So here's the whole kit and kaboodle, including Kristin's recipe (which apparently she got from one of my favorite cooking shows 'America's Test Kitchen') and the pictures of the biscuit/ham/egg breakfast sandwich. Don't forget to put some butter and Barrel-Aged Honey on those warm biscuits!!
You will need to get some metal biscuit cutters. I found mine at Bed, Bath & Beyond. They came in a set. I just use the largest one, but it's good to have options. I used it to cut out slices of ham and then cooked those slices in my cast iron skillet until they got a little color on them.
Butter or spray your biscuit cutter with a little cooking spray before putting it into your pan. Crack an egg and put it into your biscuit cutter. If your pan is hot enough, the egg won't run out underneath the cutter.
I break the yolk a little so the egg is relatively flat inside the cutter. Cook until done to your liking. Put the egg on top of the ham, drizzle the biscuit top with some Barrel-Aged Honey and voila!
Best Drop Biscuits
Makes 12 Biscuits
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
¾ teaspoon table salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk, chilled
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly, plus 2 tablespoons melted butter (I like to use salted butter for this part) for brushing the biscuits
1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 475 degrees. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl. Combine the buttermilk and 8 tablespoons of the melted butter in a medium bowl, stirring until the butter forms small clumps.
2. Add the buttermilk mixture to the dry ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula until just incorporated and the batter pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Using a greased ¼-cup measuring cup, scoop a level amount of batter and drop onto the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining batter, spacing the biscuits about 1 ½ inches apart. Bake until the tops are golden brown and crisp, 12 to 14 minutes.
3. Brush the biscuit tops with the remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes before serving.
-Recipe from The Complete America’s Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook
Kristin's Recommendations:
-Double, triple or quadruple the recipe. They freeze great and you can take a few out as you use them and warm up in toaster oven or 300 degree oven for a few minutes.
-Blue Bird all-purpose flour makes amazingly soft and fluffy biscuits. It comes in a 20lb fabric sack though, so it’s a lot of flour! I find it at Safeway. You will get delicious results with any all-purpose flour though!
-I love using Kerrygold salted butter for brushing on the tops. It’s also delicious to put a slab onto each warm biscuit half topped with Lucille’s Barrel-Aged Gourmet Honey. So yummy in my tummy!