"Winged" victory: scallion cheddar biscuits, with cheddar wings

Ciao ragazzi, and welcome back from Thanksgiving.   Annalena HOPES that you had a better Thanksgiving than she did, but she says that with the knowledge that if, after this many cycles around the clock, she can only speak of one bad Thanksgiving, she is ahead of the game.  Showing up is half the battle, they say.  So, too, tesori, is waking up.

So, back from the long weekend, Annalena was looking at a rehearsal dinner where she was serving a vegan chickpea soup (it was good, too).  With a soup like that, however, one can afford to have something a bit heavier with it.  She had been holding onto this recipe for about a week, and it seemed ideal.  It was.  Perfect for the soup, and perfect enough to fit into a repertoire where she would make it more than once.

Let's begin.  Biscuits are a "quick bread," and as with all quickbreads, you should spend some time collecting your utensils, setting up your oven, and prepping ingredients.  The "utensils" here are a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (a must, as we shall see), an oven at 425,  and a surface where you can roll out your dough.  Annalena used a food processor, because that's how she rolls.  If you prefer more work "on hands," you won't need it.

To our ingredients.  Here they are:

What you have here, tesori, is a hefty 3/4 cup of diced scallions, a stick of unsalted butter, cubed, about 6-8 ounces of grated sharp cheddar cheese (use extra sharp if you have it), a cup of buttermilk, and in the bag, we have a mix of 2 cups of flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of baking soda,  a teaspoon of fresh ground pepper, and half a teaspoon of salt.  You can put that in a bag and "squooosh" it together (yes, Annalena used a technical term),  so that it's mixed.  And you can prepare all of this ahead of time, if you are so moved.  Your butter needs to be cold, so if you do cube it ahead of time, put it back in the fridge.  Scallions will begin to weep if you cut them too far ahead of time, but a day is fine.  If you grate the cheese ahead of time, you may want to keep it in the freezer, to stop it from clumping.  

Now, we begin by dumping the flour mixture into your food processor (or, a bowl if you are doing this by hand, and then , the butter:

If you are using the processor, give it 20, one second pulses.  If you are doing it by hand, blend the stuff together until it's uniform:

The grains, as you will see, are like little pebbles.  This is what you want.  Now, we will add the scallions, and half of the grated cheese, however much of it you have.  Pulse that a few times. 

Now, with the processor running, or stirring with one hand while you add it with the other, pour in 3/4 of that cup of buttermilk and mix to a uniform consistency.  You want something like this:

Chances are, your dough will  not be too wet.  If it is too dry, add a tablespoon of buttermilk, and keep adding until you get a good texture.  If you DO have dough that is too wet (which can happen on a humid day), add flour by the tablespoon. 

Dump all of this onto a board coated with a little bit of flour, and form a rectangle:  8x5 if you're being precise:

You have all heard biscuits described as "flaky," have you not ? (This is "flaky " in a different sense than when describing  Annalena).  Well, we obtain flakiness, by folding.  So, since Annalena fully expects that given the relative youth of her readers, they will NOT know what she means when she writes  "business letter three fold,"  she will show it.  

You take that dough, and point the shorter end toward and away from you.  Then, fold  1/3 of the dough at top, to the middle, and do the same thing with the bottom 1/3.  You will have something like this:

Rotate this 90 degrees, and do it again:

Repeat this 2 more times, that is:  rotate, fold, rotate fold, rotate, fold, rotate fold.  (That may look like four more times, but Annalena is speaking of the whole process). 

Now, the fun part.  Remember that we only used half the cheese?  Well, take that remaining half, and spread it into 8 equally sized piles on your parchment paper  (and if you feel you need more cheese, Annalena will not argue with you).  Then, cut your dough into 8  even sized slices.  You can go rectangular, or square, or a mixture of both.  Put a biscuit on each pile of cheese:

If you have time, melt a tablespoon of butter, and brush it over the biscuits.  If you don't, don't worry.  Put the pan into the oven, and let it bake for 25-30 minutes.  If your oven heats unevenly - and they ALL heat unevenly carini, then rotate the sheet halfway through, at about 12-15 minutes.  

You will see, when your rotate this, something that will look a little like the ooze out of a grilled cheese sandwich.  

Is there anything wrong with that? 

After 25-30 minutes, check the biscuits.  If you feel your "cheddar wings" under the biscuit are not dark enough, then continue to bake a few minutes more, or perhaps run them under the broiler for a minute or two.  Here's how Annalena's looked after baking:

The melted cheese will be very soft at this point, so you may want to let the pan cool for about 5-10 minutes, and let the cheese firm up.  Then, you can either break the "frico"  (as we call it in the old country) with your hands, or a sharp knife (Annalena feels this is best practice).  Pile them up on a plate:

And watch your hands.  Annalena says "watch your hands," because people and pets will want these.  They are tasty, they are light, and they are fresh.  

You may want to experiment with cheeses.  Nothing too soft IN the biscuit, ragazzi:  that means no mozzarella, or swiss, or fontina, but you should feel free to use it on the wings.  Scallions not your cup of alium?  Use leeks .  Or onions.  Or leave it out.   If you have no buttermilk, but you have something other than skim milk in the house, you can "clabber" (NOT "clobber") your milk by adding a teaspoon of white vinegar to it, stirring, and leaving it alone for 15 minutes.  You will get an acceptable buttermilk substitute.  

And there you have it, amici.  A new bread to show off.  You can be out of the kitchen in less than an hour, with a plate of delicious, homemade cheese biscuits. 

Now, make these.  And enjoy them. And take a deep breath.  We are in the final mile of a marathon now.   Take care of all parts of yourself.