Cheese — Garlic Biscuits — The Kind You Bake When the Book Gets Done

The book is done. Forty chapters. 128 pages. Typed from my recordings by Kayla, edited by both of us at the kitchen table on a Saturday afternoon with cornbread and sweet tea and the cast iron skillet on the stove where it always is.

The last chapter is about the cast iron skillet. About Hattie Pearl. About Pearl. About every woman who stood at this stove and cooked with this piece of iron and left her fingerprints in the seasoning. The last line of the last chapter is: "Now go on and feed somebody." Because that is the first thing Mama said to me when she handed me the skillet, and it is the last thing I say in every blog post, and it will be the last thing I ever say in any kitchen, because it is the truest sentence I know.

Kayla held the printed manuscript and she said, "Granny, you wrote a book." I said, "We wrote a book." She said, "You talked a book. I just typed." I said, "Talking a book is harder than typing one." She smiled. She knows I'm right. Talking a book means opening your chest and letting someone see what's inside, and what's inside me is fifty-five years of cooking and love and loss and butter and the unshakable belief that feeding people is the closest thing to prayer.

I don't know what happens next. Denise says we should find a publisher. Kayla says we should start with a local press. Derek says he'll write the foreword. I say: the book exists. It's on paper. It's in my hands. Whatever happens next is gravy. And I know gravy, baby. Gravy is my specialty.

Now go on and feed somebody.

We didn’t have cornbread that Saturday by accident — it’s just what this kitchen makes when something worth celebrating is happening, and a finished book is absolutely worth celebrating. These Cheese & Garlic Biscuits are cut from the same cloth: simple, honest, Southern, and best eaten warm at a table with somebody you love. Kayla typed the last page; I’ll make the biscuits. That’s how we do it around here.

Cheese & Garlic Biscuits

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 25 minutes | Servings: 12 biscuits

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
• 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 3/4 cup cold buttermilk
• For the garlic butter topping:
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven. Heat your oven to 425°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, garlic powder, and onion powder until evenly combined.
3. Cut in the butter. Add the cold butter cubes to the flour mixture. Using your fingertips or a pastry cutter, work the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with a few pea-sized pieces remaining. Don’t overwork it — cold butter is what makes biscuits flaky.
4. Add the cheese. Stir in the shredded cheddar cheese until evenly distributed throughout the flour mixture.
5. Add the buttermilk. Pour in the cold buttermilk and stir gently with a fork just until the dough comes together. It will look shaggy — that’s exactly right. Do not overmix.
6. Portion the biscuits. Drop heaping spoonfuls of dough (about 3 tablespoons each) onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart. You should get approximately 12 biscuits.
7. Bake. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, until the tops are golden brown and the edges look set. Rotate the pan halfway through for even color.
8. Make the garlic butter topping. While the biscuits bake, stir together the melted butter, garlic powder, chopped parsley, and a pinch of salt in a small bowl.
9. Brush and serve. As soon as the biscuits come out of the oven, brush them generously with the garlic butter topping. Serve warm. These are best eaten the day they’re made, right there at the table with whoever you love most.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 198 | Protein: 5g | Fat: 12g | Carbs: 18g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 274mg