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I don't know anyone who doesn't like these biscuits that are originally from Red Lobster. I devour them, and probably fill myself up with them before I am even served my dinner. And then take some home at the end of the night. I love them.
Tonight, I made them from scratch at home!
What you need:
Ingredients for the biscuit:
- 2 and a 1/2 cups PLUS 6 tablespoons of all-purpose flour (which is the same as 3 cups MINUS 2 tablespoons -- whatever is easier for you)
- 2 tablespoons of cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon of baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 2 teaspoons of garlic powder
- 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened [cut it into small pieces for your convenience]
- 2 cups of mild shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 1/2 cups of (reduced fat) buttermilk
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 a stick) of unsalted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
- 3/4 of a teaspoon of parsley flakes
- First, move your oven rack up to the upper or upper-middle position (I kept mine on the second of five racks). Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Line two of your baking sheets with foil for easy cleanup (parchment paper or a Silpat would work too).
- In a [mixing] bowl, mix together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and garlic powder until it is combined well. Add in the cubed [softened] butter and use a fork (or your hands -- hands made it much easier and quicker) to combine the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal. You'll end up with some pea size pieces of butter that are visible, and that's all right.
- At this point, add in your mild shredded cheddar cheese and mix it well. Pour in the buttermilk and stir until everything is combined.
- Scoop your mixture with your hands (you could also use either two spoons or a 1/4 measuring cup, but I found it stuck to the scoop -- hands worked best) to scoop the biscuit mixture onto the baking sheets. Pat them down to make them uniformed, but I'd leave the free-form shape.
- Let the biscuits bake for about 12 minutes, and them remove and brush with butter mixture (see step 6), and then bake for an additional 5-6 minutes until the top of the biscuits are golden brown.
- For the topping that you will brush on top of each of the biscuits: take half a stick of melted butter, and add 1/2 a teaspoon of garlic powder and 3/4 of a teaspoon of parsley flakes. Stir it nicely until it is well combined.
The above quantity made 16 perfect biscuits for me. The consistency, texture (inside and out), and taste were matching. I thought it'd taste similar, but I was pleasantly surprised how great they turned out.
I found several recipes online for these biscuits, but they just didn't seem right or had ingredients that I didn't want to use (like shortening or oil). Others called for garlic salt (and I don't like things that are too salty). Many used oregano and I didn't think that was the correct herb to match the taste. I also didn't want to use a biscuit mix like most of them called for. I like shortcuts like everyone else, but sometimes you want to do it right from scratch. Another challenge: most recipes, if not all, seemed to need cake flour. For some reason, neither of the two major grocery stores I frequent seemed to carry cake flour. Not sure what the deal with that is, considering when I Googled it, I was told that most, if not all, major grocery stories had them right by the other flours in the baking aisle. Yeah, apparently not where I live.
So I improvised. Here's a tip for you if you find yourself in the same predicament as me. You can make a substitute for cake flour at home if you have cornstarch and all purpose flour (AP flour). Basically, 1 cup of cake flour equals 1 cup of AP flour minus 2 tablespoons plus 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. Confused much? I hope not. Basically take a cup of AP flour, but take two tablespoons out of it and put it back in your flour container. Then add two tablespoons of cornstarch to the remainder of the flour. A cup of this mixture can be substituted for every cup of cake flour you need for your recipes.
If you are using cake flour as part of your recipe, use a combination of 1 and 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour and 1 and 1/2 cups of cake flour AND OMIT THE CORNSTARCH!.
Check out other things I've made recently:
Open-faced Chicken Parmesan Sandwiches
Oven-Fried Chicken
Homemade Dinner Rolls with Rosemary and Black Pepper
P.S. This post is a part of my "What's for Dinner" series, where I share what I've been cooking and my recipes. Grab and share my button:
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