Cheddar Biscuit Breakfast Sandwiches

One of my family's favorite weekend breakfast dishes is the breakfast sandwich: Fried eggs, slices of bacon, ham or sausage and cheese all sandwiched between buttered toast. This breakfast is great because it can be customized according to the person's tastes and it's portable so you can eat it on the run! This weekend I decided to change it up by using these amazing Cheddar Biscuits instead of toast. The texture of the biscuit was perfect and the saltiness of the sharp cheddar cheese added another dimension of flavor. Feel free to use a mild or medium cheddar if you prefer a milder flavor. You could also add fresh herbs to the dough! Chives would be a great addition.

Cheddar Biscuit Breakfast Sandwiches
Makes 10 large biscuits using 3" biscuit cutter 0r 12 standard size biscuits
Adapted from Food52

Ingredients
3 1/2 cups minus 1 teaspoon all purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
9 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon unsalted butter
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1 3/4 cup buttermilk
1 large egg for egg wash
Toppings - several strips of cooked bacon, slices of cooked ham or cooked sausage patties, sliced cheese, fried eggs

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Refrigerate the mixture for 25 minutes.

Cut the butter into chunks and leave out at room temp while the flour mixture is chilling.

When the dry ingredients are finished chilling, place the flour mixture, butter and cheese in the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Mix on low until the chunks of butter are no larger than a large pea. This may take up to 1-2 minutes. If you don't have an electric stand mixer, you can use a pastry cutter for this process. Cut the butter into the flour, then add the cheese and toss to coat.

Add the buttermilk to the bowl and mix on low just until a dough forms. This literally only took about 10 seconds. Do not overmix.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Coat your hands with flour and knead for a few seconds to bring the dough together then quickly and gently pat into a disk about 1/2" - 3/4" thick.

Using a biscuit cutter dipped in flour, cut the biscuits using a quick up and down motion. Do not twist when you cut your biscuits. Twisting seals the edges which can prevent them from rising.

Gently reshape dough scraps to cut additional biscuits but do not do this more than once otherwise those biscuits will be tough.

Place on a parchment lined baking sheet about 1-2" apart.

At this point you can refrigerate your biscuits for about 20 minutes if you feel you may have overworked your dough during the kneeding/shaping process.

Remove from the fridge and brush lightly with egg wash (1 egg with a splash of water whisked together).

Bake at 400 for approximately 15-20 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven and allow biscuits to sit on the baking sheet for 1-2 minutes then remove and serve warm!

I made mine into breakfast sandwiches using sliced cheese, cooked bacon and/or ham, topped with a fried egg. Add sauce of your choice (butter, mustard...)

Leftover biscuits can be stored at room temperature tightly covered for one day. Reheat in oven or in the microwave for a few seconds.

You can also freeze the biscuits and bake directly from the freezer as needed. After placing the biscuits on the baking sheet and applying the egg wash, place the entire baking sheet in the freezer. When the biscuits are completely frozen, remove from the baking sheet and place in freezer bags. When ready to use, remove from freezer, brush with egg wash and proceed as below but increase baking time as needed).

Tip: If you don't have buttermilk on hand, you can make sour milk youself. Add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar for each cup of milk. Allow to sit at room temperature for 5 minutes. You can also use fresh lemon juice instead of the vinegar.

Also if you don't like fried eggs, you can just use scrambled egggs or you can whisk a bunch of eggs with milk, salt & pepper, pour into a greased baking dish and bake until the eggs are set then cut and place on your biscuits!