The true Southern staple – pimento cheese dip – gets a revamp in these pimento cheese biscuits. With lots of sharp cheddar, a little heat and pops of pimento peppers, these cheesy bombs of deliciousness are great for breakfasts and brunches!
Pimento cheese is one of those things I only allow myself to make for special occasions because I will literally eat a gallon of it at a time. And like these pimento grilled cheese sandwiches, I’m always looking for ways to extend the uses of pimento cheese!
What Makes these Biscuits Special?
- There’s no mixer required and they can be made in advance and baked when needed for crazy easy breakfast or brunch meal prep.
- Plenty of extra sharp cheddar creates for a flavorful cheesy biscuit.
- Layers of folded dough makes for a sky-high flaky biscuit.
- Subtle kick of heat in the background from the cayenne and hot sauce make for a zesty biscuit.
Ingredients
I started these using my classic pimento cheese dip flavors, and adjusted to really shine in a biscuit. Let’s looks at the ingredients:
- Self-rising flour. I always use self-rising flour for my biscuits. It’s how I was taught!
- Unsalted butter. Cold butter makes for a fluffy biscuit.
- Spices: garlic powder, cayenne, black pepper. Our flavor in the background.
- Extra sharp cheddar. Gotta have EXTRA sharp cheddar. I really love Tillamook, but any very sharp cheddar will work. It’s always better if you can grate the cheese yourself.
- Diced pimentos. Jars of these sweet red peppers are available is most grocery stores. They are usually in small jars in the canned vegetable aisle, but sometimes they hide near the jarred olives.
- Hot sauce. I use Tabasco, but you can use your favorite. It’s very light, but if you don’t like heat, you can leave it out.
- Buttermilk. The only liquid allowed in biscuits. Full stop, that’s the law. It makes for a tender, break-apart biscuit.
Substitutions
- Eliminate the hot sauce if you prefer mild pimento cheese dip.
- DIY self-rising flour: add 2.25 teaspoons baking powder and 3/4 teaspoon salt to all-purpose flour.
- DIY Buttermilk: add 1 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice or white vinegar to whole milk and let sit for 5 minutes.
Making Biscuits
Biscuits, much like my scones, are some of my favorite pastries to make. They don’t require a mixer. You get to play with dough, they are super easy and pretty much foolproof. Let’s look through a few of the steps and why they make such a fantastic, flaky and tender biscuit.
Cold butter. Using cold butter creates the flakes! When the cold butter goes into a hot oven the steam provides the lift and flakes. Rubbing in the cold butter is the best way to get nice big flakes. Using your fingertips or a pastry cutter, blend in cubes of butter until the texture is somewhat sandy but larger pea-sized clumps remain.
Amount of buttermilk. I provide a range of buttermilk to add because depending on the day, humidity, flour brand and about 20 other factors, the amount of buttermilk could vary. Back in my professional biscuit-making days (did you know I worked full time as a biscuit maker!?) the amount needed could swing by quarts depending on the day.
Only add enough buttermilk to moisten the flour. This is called a shaggy dough because it literally looks a little scruffy. Avoid adding too much and creating a wet, soupy dough.
Quick lamination. Lamination is a baking term that means you create flaky layers with dough and butter by folding. Croissants are a classic example, but we are going to do a very quick letter-fold lamination to our biscuit dough to create some easy layers.
Chill the dough. One trick for extra flaky biscuits is to chill the dough before baking. By putting the biscuits in the freezer the butter will have a chance to re-harden after all the work we did and will create more steam aka more flakes!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, fully freeze the biscuits and store in the freezer until needed! Add 1-2 minutes extra baking time to fully frozen biscuit dough.
See my substitution note above for making a homemade version of buttermilk!
Yes, sometimes I substitute some of the cheddar for pepper jack (I use pepper jack in my traditional dip) but if you really want that pimento cheese dip taste, cheddar is a must.
If your biscuits are too wet to work with, liberally sprinkle the counter and top of the dough with extra flour. As you fold and cut, you can continue to sprinkle a bit more flour just to make it workable. The biscuits will still be delicious but may not rise quite as high.
A cut edge will rise and flake much better once in the oven. You could skip this step but you will notice the uncut edges will be slightly shorter than the rest.
Pimento Cheese Biscuits
Ingredients
- 180 g self-rising flour plus more for dusting
- ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 56 g unsalted butter cold, cubed
- 56 g extra sharp cheddar cheese shredded
- 25 g diced pimentos drained, rinsed, dried
- Scant ½ teaspoon hot sauce
- ½ – ¾ cup buttermilk cold
- Melted butter for brushing
Instructions
- Whisk together flour and spices in large bowl.180 g self-rising flour, 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- Using finger tips, rub cold butter into mixture until flour is sandy and some pea-sized clumps remain. Stir in cheddar and pimentos.56 g unsalted butter, 56 g extra sharp cheddar cheese, 25 g diced pimentos
- Mix hot sauce with 1/2 cup of buttermilk. Pour into flour mixture, stir using dough whisk or wooden spoon. Add additional buttermilk as needed until flour is just moistened (you may not need all of the buttermilk). Dough mixture should have a shaggy consistency but not be sloppy and wet.Scant 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce, 1/2 – 3/4 cup buttermilk
- Tip dough onto a floured surface. Sprinkle some flour on top of the dough and pat into a rectangle about 6" x 8". Fold into thirds, like a letter. Pat into about 1 1/2" tall square, about 5" x 5". Trim away the outside edges to allow for a taller rise. Cut into 4 pieces.
- Transfer biscuits to parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush tops with melted butter and place in freezer to chill whill preheating oven to 450°F (230°C) [about 20 minutes].Melted butter for brushing
- Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm or cold.
Notes
- This is a small-batch recipe – it will yield 4 big biscuits. If desired, this recipe is easily scalable as needed.
- Biscuits are best the day of. Store leftover biscuits in an airtight container and refresh in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about 5 minutes.
- Unbaked biscuits can be completely frozen on a sheet pan then transferred to an airtight container and stored for up 3 months. Add 1-2 minutes to the baking time.
Disclaimer: We test all recipes using the metric weights shown, we cannot guarantee outcomes when switching to US measurements.
