I used to think that whipping up biscuits for dinner was a grandma thing. As in, I would eventually figure out how to do it by the time I was a grandma. While that may be true for the thick, flaky rolls I remember from childhood, these quick drop biscuits are a delicious stand-in for weeknight meals. Best of all, they use olive oil instead of gobs of butter. They’re no less tasty because of it.
Prep Time: 5 min | Cook Time: 12-15 min | Yields: about 12 biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
- 2 tsp sugar (or honey)
- 1 tbspn baking powder
- 1 cup buttermilk*
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 tbspn fresh chopped chives (not green onions)
*If you don’t have buttermilk on hand (I rarely do) you can fake it with one cup whole or reduced fat milk + 1 tsp cider vinegar. Mix those two together first then set aside while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. The milk will start to curdle and become more acidic – exactly what you want. Use the mixture in place of buttermilk.
Directions
Preheat oven to 425 F.
In a medium to large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, black pepper, sugar and baking powder.
Form a slight well in the dry ingredients and dump in the buttermilk, olive oil, cheddar cheese, and chives. Mix together until just combined. Flecks of flour are okay here – you want to be careful not to over mix.
Grease a baking sheet (or use a nonstick one), then drop biscuits onto the baking sheet using a large spoon. Biscuits will expand a bit as they cook so be sure to leave some breathing room in between them.
Bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly golden brown on top and around the edges.
Adaptations
- You can omit the black pepper, cheddar, and chives for a very basic drop biscuit recipe. It’ll be pretty bland, but a good vehicle for jam if that’s what you’re going for.
- You can use whole or reduced fat milk instead of buttermilk. They biscuits will still be tasty.