May 15, 2009 | Chickens in the Road

Archive for May 15th, 2009

May
15

Love Red Lobster’s famous Cheddar Bay drop biscuits? This is them. Maybe better than them. Would I lie? I’ve been studying up on these biscuits for awhile, ever since several months ago when I accidentally came across a recipe purporting to be Red Lobster’s Cheddar Bay biscuits. I tried them and wasn’t completely impressed. Something was off. I researched some more and found numerous similar knock-off recipes. They’re all over the place–just put “cheddar bay biscuits” in your search engine. There’s even one posted here on the Chickens in the Road forum. Most of them use biscuit mix as a starter (usually specifying Bisquick). I’m not a Bisquick fan, I have to say. If I’m going to use a baking mix, I prefer a homemade mix, but even so, the recipe wasn’t quite right. The biscuits weren’t rich enough, cheesy enough, buttery enough, and something indefinable was missing.

Finally I happened on the tip to use cayenne pepper in the mixture. Aha. Now you’re talking. There was that indefinable zing to the biscuits that was missing! I added more cheese, more butter, and eventually experimented with using sour cream along with the milk, thereby infusing the richness that was lacking.

And now I hereby pronounce these the Ultimate Cheddar Bay Biscuits–and you’ll just have to try them for yourself to see if you agree! You can make these biscuits using my homemade baking mix, Quick Mix or your own favorite baking mix–or if you don’t like to keep baking mix onhand, you can make it by the batch, so I’ve included the recipe from scratch.

Printer-Friendly
How to make Ultimate Cheddar Bay Biscuits:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/4 cups milk

Note: If using a baking mix, replace first 5 ingredients with 2 1/2 cups baking mix.

Place first 5 ingredients (or 2 1/2 cups baking mix) in a large bowl. Add cayenne pepper and garlic powder.

Cayenne pepper! One of my two secret ingredients. (The other is the sour cream.)

Work in the butter with a pastry cutter. Stir in cheese then add sour cream and milk. Scoop biscuit dough out by big spoonfuls and place in a greased 9 x 13 casserole pan. (Or other type of pan with an edge to it–if you use a flat baking sheet, butter sauce will spill down into your oven. Ask me how I know that……)

Topping

6 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon parsley
dash of salt

Melt butter. Stir in garlic powder, parsley, and a dash of salt. Spoon half of topping over unbaked biscuits.

Bake at 450 degrees for 25 minutes.* After removing biscuits from the oven, spoon the rest of the topping over them.

*Your baking time may vary! I make 20 biscuits from this recipe. If you make your biscuits smaller or larger, it will change your baking time.

My kids eat these like they’re candy. You’ll be lucky if the biscuits make it to the dinner table.