While Dad and I carefully plan our Thanksgiving meals weeks ahead of the holiday, there’s always something we forget. A couple years ago, we forgot to get a second turkey (gasp!), which led to my mom and brother scrambling around on Thursday to find 1) a store that was open, and 2) had a turkey that wasn’t frozen. Last year, mashed potatoes were left out of the mix, which was just depressing. This year we forgot the carbs in bread form because, while the mashed potatoes (a victorious garlic version with spicy paprika butter) will do a good job catching the gravy, what about that last sweep around the plate? Are you hungry for bread at that point? No, absolutely not, but, for goodness sakes, this is Thanksgiving! It is that special time of year when eatin’ pants get a good workout and everyone has an amazing expanding stomach.

So, we were breadless, scared, alone, and something had to be done, quick! I turned to one of my favorite recipe site, seriouseats.com, to find a drop biscuit recipe. Usually, I’m a flaky biscuit kind of girl, but there just wasn’t time! The ovens (my parents got a second oven in 2016 and it has changed our Thanksgiving game forever) were scheduled down to the minute so these things had to get in faster than a hot knife through butter! Per usual, the folks at Serious Eats pulled through for me. I turned to a recipe by Stella Parks called Buttermilk Drop Biscuits with Garlic and Cheddar. Naturally I doubled it, and thus needed 12 ounces (yay!) of cheese grated on a micrograter, to preserve the fluffiness. While the recipe calls for cheddar, you can really just use up bits of this and that left in your fridge. I ended up using:

Podda Misto – sheep and cow’s milk cheese from Italy, lent a wonderful nuttiness and tang

Ford Farm Cheddar – cow’s milk cheddar from England, more savory than sweet, an awesome melter

Caciotta Stravecchio – cow’s milk cheese from Luca at Wolf Meadow Farm in MA, added a salty kick

Su Entu – sheep’s milk from Sardinia, so savory, so mouthwatering

Gruyere 1655 – classic cow’s milk from Switzerland, nutty, oniony, necessary for life

And the last essential ingredient is a brother or someone who will grate all this cheese which ranged from hard to rock-like on the finest grater you have. Love you Ollie, thanks again for the help! Such a fun job, right bro?!

It was definitely worth slotting these into a busy cooking day because other than grating the cheese, they were pretty quick to make. Extra bonus, as they baked, the house smelled insanely good of hot, bubbly cheese. Over the next few days, I ate them every morning toasted with a soft boiled egg before work, and it set me up well to launch into cheese shop world. Ah, they were good! My stomach just growled. Here’s the recipe!

Tell me about what cheeses you use in the biscuits, or what cheeses you think I should use next time. Let’s make them now, ok?

For the love of cheese and biscuits,

Kiri

P.S. Happy 60th Birthday, Mom! Yes, I will do that half marathon with you, but you may have to carry me at some point.

Saved by the Cheesy Biscuits