Cheddar Black Pepper Biscuits

Today I'm going to share with you a delicious recipe for these cheddar and cracked pepper biscuits.  Making homemade biscuits is something that I think everyone should know how to do, but a lot of people say that they can't.  I'm here to tell you that you can!  As long as you resign yourself to the fact that yes, it is time-consuming and yes, it is messy, I think you can be successful in your biscuit-making endeavors!  The problem with thinking we can't do something in the kitchen, in my opinion, is that we want everything to happen instantaneously.  We've been spoiled by convenience foods to the point where we can't function without something boxed or canned.  It's kind of like me with my GPS.  I can barely find my way home because I'm so used to that thing telling me where to go.  Without it, I would end up in Illinois or somewhere when all I was trying to do was get to the Wal-Mart.  I know it's easier to open a can of biscuits and pop them in the oven.  There is a time and a place for canned biscuits.  This is not one of them.  And I promise you, once you make these, you'll forget all about Pillsbury.

Cheddar Black Pepper Biscuits
Joy the Baker
Ingredients:
2 cups AP flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour [use AP if you don't have it]
2 Tbsp sugar
4 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening, cold and cut into cubes
1/4 cup butter, cold and cut into cubes
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup buttermilk, cold
3/4 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
a touch of heavy cream and black pepper for topping the biscuits before baking

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425.  These can be baked on a cookie sheet, baking stone, in a casserole dish or a cast-iron skillet.  Whatever you have on hand that's clean!
In a mixing bowl, sift together the flours, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt.  Cut in the butter and shortening until the mixture resembles coarse meal.  Add the cheddar and black pepper and toss to combine.  In another bowl, combine egg and buttermilk.  Add that to the flour mixture, stirring together to make a soft dough.
Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead about 15 times.  Roll or pat out into about a 1-inch thickness, but you can really make it the thickness that you want; you just might have to adjust your baking time.  Use a glass or biscuit cutter to cut into 2-inch rounds, or you can cut them into 2x2 squares.  Brush the tops with heavy cream and sprinkle with fresh ground pepper.  Bake for 12-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of your biscuits.

These make a-maz-ing breakfast sandwiches.  Put a fried egg and some bacon in between and you've got yourself a great start to the morning. In the above photo, I cut mine with a fluted biscuit cutter and made them a bit thinner.  I served them at a party with country ham and a delightful mustard sauce. 

 Make these for your boyfriend and he will propose, I guarantee it.  Make these for your husband and then go buy new shoes--expensive ones.  Serve them to your inlaws and they'll never have another bad thing to say about you.  

The great thing about these and any other biscuit is that after you make them, you can just eat what you need and put the rest in the freezer.  A lot of the time we just make 3 or 4 and then we'll have enough to freeze for about 4 more breakfasts!  I hope you'll try these out and let me know what you think.