30 Before 30: Parmesan-Pine Nut Biscuits (#8)

Boy do I ever love a biscuit. This won't be the only biscuit recipe this month either. I had decided to make soup (more on that later) and needed a quick bread to go with it, as late in the day soup decisions often go. Since the point of this challenge is to try to use my cookbooks and try new things, I opened up my King Arthur Whole Grain Baking book for the first time in forever and boy, do they have a lot of biscuit recipes I want to try. So many! Even though Aaron is not a fan of nuts in baked things, I went for this one anyway because it just sounded so good! And it totally was. Much better than the soup we ended up having.

Parmesan-Pine Nut Biscuits via King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking:

Yield: 1 dozen to 14 biscuits (I almost never reach yield on biscuit recipes because I like my biscuits big and fluffy. I also did a half recipe on this one.)

2 c. white whole wheat flour

½ c. unbleached bread flour

2½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

¾ tsp. salt

½ c. cold unsalted butter

1 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for the tops

1 c. pine nuts

1 Tb. finely chopped fresh rosemary (optional. Do it. It's so good!)

1 large egg

1 c. buttermilk, plus more for the tops

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper.

Whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. With a fork, two knives, a pastry cutter, or a food processor, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the Parmesan cheese, pine nuts, and rosemary (if using. Which you should).

Whisk together the egg and buttermilk in a small bowl or a large measuring cup. Add, all at once, to the flour mixture, and blend lightly and quickly with a fork until the mixture is evenly moistened.

Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface, and using a bench knife or a dough scraper, fold the dough over on itself three or four times until it comes together. I used a bowl scraper since I don't have a bench knife (I know, I know).

Pat the dough out or roll very lightly with a rolling pin (just pat it out) until it's ¾-inch thick. Cut the dough into squares or rounds with a biscuit cutter (or a small drinking glass like I always do. I also don't have a biscuit cutter.). Transfer the biscuits to the prepared baking sheet. Stack the scraps on top of each other, fold them as you did for the original dough, and pat out and cut again. Brush the tops with more buttermilk, and sprinkle with more cheese if desired (duh).

Bake until the tops are golden brown, 20 to 22 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve warm, or cool on a rack.

These are herbaceous, earthy, and very satisfying. 

Recipes Complete: 8

Recipes to Go: 22