Rosemary Black Pepper Cheddar Biscuits With Bacon Gravy And Toma Recipes

BACON, ROSEMARY AND BLACK PEPPER BISCUITS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 450ºF.
• Combine first 4 ingredients in large bowl. Stir in bacon. Cut in butter with pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add milk; stir with fork just until mixture forms soft dough.
• Place dough on lightly floured surface; knead 20 times or until smooth and no longer sticky.
• Roll out dough to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut into 16 rounds with 2-inch cookie cutter, re-rolling scraps as necessary. Place, 2 inches apart, on baking sheet.
• Bake 10 min. or until golden brown.

BLACK PEPPER BACON & CHEDDAR BISCUITS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 450°F.
• Mix ingredients in large bowl just until mixture forms soft dough.
• Place on lightly floured surface; roll out dough to 1/2-inch thickness.
• Cut into 12 rounds with 2-1/2 inch cookie cutter, rerolling dough scraps as necessary.
• Place, 2 inches apart, on baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray.
• Bake 10 min. or until golden brown.

ROSEMARY-BLACK PEPPER CHEDDAR BISCUITS WITH BACON GRAVY AND TOMA

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450*.
• Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pepper. Cut in chilled shortening (or rub in with fingers) until pea-sized lumps form. Stir in herbs and cheese.
• Whisk together buttermilk and egg and add to flour. Gently stir with a fork until just combined. Don't over mix or you'll end up with hard biscuits.
• Turn dough out onto a floured work surface. Pat down gently to a 1/2 inch thick circle or square. Using a floured biscuit cutter, press down and cut out biscuits. ( Do not twist cutter to remove the biscuits. My mom always said that would make the biscuits not rise and she made the most amazing biscuits -- so that is still how I do it. Just straight down, and straight up with the cutter.) You can reknead the scraps to form more biscuits, but the will not be as tender as the first ones. I usually just kind of pat the scraps into little biscuit shapes. I get 8-10 out of this recipe total.
• Place on an ungreased sheet pan and bake for 10-15 minutes until light golden brown.
• Meanwhile, fry bacon over medium heat until just crispy. Remove from skillet and place on a paper towel. Reserve the drippings in the pan.
• Add flour to the bacon grease and whisk til smooth. Cook for a minute or so to get rid of the raw flour taste. Do not burn the flour though --
• Add milk all at once, whisking like crazy the whole time. Heat til bubbling and simmer 5-10 minutes until the gravy begins to thicken. Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Cut open your biscuit and top each with a thick slice of tomato. Season liberally with salt and pepper--tomatoes ALWAYS need salt and pepper if you ask me -- Ladle over a heaping (or not so heaping) helping of your gravy. Crumble the bacon over the top, sprinkle with chives and/or parsley and additional salt and pepper as desired. Enjoy!