I grew up on baking powder biscuits and love them served hot with lots of butter. I came across this recipe a long time ago when looking for appetizers for a party I was having. Adding the black pepper to the biscuits created a much more flavorful biscuit. Whenever I make them, guests come back for more and there is never any left. You can make tiny ones to serve as appetizers, or full size to serve at a family breakfast or dinner. They go extremely well paired with a cheddar cheese spread, a pimento cheese spread, honey, and/or butter, among other things. Try them with any cheese spread you love!
TIPS: Fresh ground pepper really amps up the flavor here, but if you want to use pre-ground pepper, try to use course ground pepper. The original recipe called for unsalted butter, but frankly I didn’t see much difference using salted butter. If you like taller, thicker biscuits, just roll them out thicker, and cook them a bit longer.
Biscuits with Black Pepper
Ingredients
- 2 C all purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp plus 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 6 Tbsp cold butter diced in 6 pieces
- 1 C buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray 2 baking sheets lightly with cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, salt, and pepper. Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles course meal and butter is the size of small peas.
- Using an large spoon or spatula, stir in buttermilk, just until entire mixture is wet and a soft dough forms: do not overmix.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and press dough together with your floured hands just until dough holds together in a ball. Pat or roll dough until 1/2 inch thick. Using a biscuit or cookie cutter, or the top of a round glass, dip the cutter in flour and then cut out rounds of the dough. (For appetizers, use a 1-1/2 to 2 inch diameter cutter. For full size biscuits use a 4 inch cutter). Place the rounds on a baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Gently press remaining dough together, knead very gently so it holds together. Pat dough out into 1/2 inch thickness again, and cut out more biscuits until dough is used up.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes until bottoms are golden brown and tops are starting to brown. (smaller biscuits may take less time, larger biscuits take a few more minutes).
- Enjoy!