How To Turn Pantry Biscuits Into Something Festive (NO FANCY INGREDIENTS NEEDED)

This was my first summer having a garden and it coincided with the summer I hatched a new human and the themes of both keep blurring together: The goofy pride in growing things from seed. The occasionally overwhelming feeling that there are so many things and they’re all very hungry and counting on you to fix this. The twinge of sadness as they look less sprout-y and more robust. The urgency to not squander any of this.

With that in mind, there’s the fact that a very warm fall has meant that instead of this garden looking near collapse, it’s going strong and the four billowing pots of herbs that remain are pressuring me to do something great with them before they meet their imminent frosty demise. Fried sage leaves on everything! Crisp rosemary flatbread all the time! Minced chives on every dish! Parsley… I mean, I like tabbouleh and all, but there’s no way I’m going to get through this. Let’s not pretend this made a huge dent, but 5 sprigs down is a respectable effort, right?

Look, I know all of our cooking dance cards are full right now, beyond capacity, even. You’ve probably got your menus sorted. But this was too cute to save for a less frenetic week. Basically, I figured out that you could take any old biscuit and make it rather festive by egg-washing a flat parsley leaf on top before you bake it. I mean, that’s it, that’s all there is to it. The biscuit recipe I used is an old reliable; I’ve made it with cheddar and blue cheese both before. This time I used pecorino but parmesan is more likely what you have around right now and works, or certainly better than going back to any grocery store anywhere two days before Thanksgiving. I held back on the minced scallion I usually put it, but missed it. You could also use a little bit of onion or garlic powder for a more full flavor. You could also use whatever biscuit recipe you were going to, anyway and just do this to it because it turns out biscuits like to dress up for dinner parties too sometimes.

Parsley Pecorino Biscuits

At-a-glance

Ingredients

Heat oven to 425°F.

Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Use your fingertips or a pastry blender to work the cold, diced butter into the dry ingredients until the largest pieces are about the size of tiny peas. Stir in the cheese, scallions (if using), and the chopped parsley. Add the buttermilk and stir just until the dough comes together. Knead once or twice in the bowl to form a rough dough.

Turn the dough out to a floured counter and pat or roll to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut 2-inch rounds by pressing straight down (don’t twist the cutter). Transfer rounds to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush the tops lightly with the beaten egg wash and press one whole parsley leaf onto the center of each biscuit; dab the leaf lightly with more egg wash so it adheres.

Bake for 11 to 13 minutes, until the biscuits are golden brown. Serve immediately for best texture.

Because biscuits are best on day one, the author likes to make the dough and cut the rounds ahead of time, then freeze them until needed. Bake from frozen; they will need only about 2 extra minutes. Apply the egg wash and parsley leaf just before baking.

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