Easy Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Using a simple 2-Ingredient dough, these Easy Cheddar Bay Biscuits will go from a mere thought to your mouth in about 20 minutes. Delicious in the morning sliced open with just a piece of ham, or on the side of a soup, salad, or main course for lunch or dinner, this is your new favorite biscuit!

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I don't usually write copycat recipes, but I will make an exception for these copycat Red Lobster biscuits. You know, the Cheddar Bay Biscuits that they bring out to the table that you swear you're only gonna nibble on because you don't want to spoil your dinner? Yeah, we're making those!

We aren't using a box of Red Lobster biscuit mix. We aren't even using Bisquick mix, or any other biscuit baking mix. We are using our 2-ingredient biscuit dough (already a great recipe), made with simple ingredients, plus a few added herbs and spices and of course cheddar cheese. So. Much. Cheese!!!

❤️ What you'll love about this recipe

• Quick and easy - This is such an easy recipe! If you can stir, you can make these biscuits. With no need to cut in cold butter, you can have these easy homemade biscuits mixed and baked in about 20 minutes.
• Fluffy, tender, and delicious - Treat the dough gently and you will make some of the fluffiest, most tender biscuits you'll ever pop in your mouth and the herby melted butter just makes them irresistible!
• Flexible - Use a cookie scoop, spoon, or measuring cup to portion out these simple cheesy biscuits.
• Versatile - You can add almost anything to these, to suit your mood. Add some diced jalapeño for spicy cheddar bay biscuits or add cooked bacon or sausage for a heartier biscuit!
• Make ahead - This is the best part! Make a double batch and freeze some for future you. In case of biscuit emergency, remove from the freezer and bake for a few more minutes than written. You will thank you.

Ingredients

When there are more herbs and spices than there are biscuit ingredients, you know this is gonna be an easy one!

See recipe card below for quantities.

What is self rising flour?

Although similar to all-purpose flour, self rising flour already contains baking powder and salt, eliminating the need to add either to your recipes. This means you can make light and fluffy muffins, pancakes, waffles, and even old fashioned biscuits quickly and easily.

Self-rising flour is especially good for making biscuits because it has a low protein content. Lower protein means that your biscuits are less likely to form gluten strands that can give you dense texture.

No self rising flour? No problem. I've got you covered. For every cup of self rising flour that you need combine 1 cup of all purpose flour and add 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder and ½ teaspoon of kosher salt. If you don't have kosher salt, use ¼ teaspoon of table salt.

Another option is to use 1 cup all purpose flour + 1 teaspoon cream of tartar + ½ teaspoon baking soda + ½ teaspoon kosher salt.

If you really want to duplicate the light texture of self rising flour, use cake flour in place of the all purpose flour. It has a lower protein content, and makes for a more precise duplication of the texture of self rising flour.

Substitutions

Other than the self-rising flour hacks that I talk about above, there really are no places to hide in this recipe. Unfortunately, you cannot use whole milk or regular milk of any kind because you need to have the 36% or higher butterfat found in heavy cream for these to work.

You can however play with your seasonings. Old Bay would be a great substitute for the garlic and onion powder in both the biscuit and in the buttery flavor topping.

Why Heavy Cream Works in these Copycat Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Allow me to put on my science hat. As you can see from the ingredient shot above, the biscuit part of this recipe requires no butter, lard, or shortening - no solid fat at all. So, how could it possibly work? Heavy cream contains between 36 and 40% butterfat. The key word there is butter. Butter is made with heavy cream, so it makes sense that using it in this recipe will give you moist and buttery tasting biscuits!

Essentially, in heavy cream, tiny droplets of butterfat are floating in milk. Using heavy cream in place of the butter and the buttermilk of my original buttermilk biscuits works because the heavy cream contains both the fat and the liquid required for biscuit making.

(p.s. don't try to use regular whipping cream or light cream. It must have the words heavy or double on the label)

Equipment: scoops

When it comes to portioning out batters and doughs, I always turn to what I grew up calling an ice cream scoop. You know, the clicky kind! I use a large scoop to get just the right amount of waffle batter into my waffle maker or pancake batter onto my electric griddle and I use my medium scoop for most cookies and for making any of my drop biscuit recipes.

Using a scoop to portion batters and doughs has multiple purposes. Not only does it make everything come out neat and tidy, it ensures that all of your biscuits, or cookies, or scones will be the same size and will cook perfectly in the same amount of time. Scoop, there it is!

Instructions

Making drop biscuits is so easy, you'll almost feel like it's cheating! Let's do this. Let's make Red Lobster’s Cheddar Bay Biscuits, only better!

Start by preheating your oven to 425°F and lining an ungreased cookie sheet, large sheet pan, or other baking tray, with parchment paper. You can also use an ungreased cast iron skillet.

Step 1: Measure out your self rising flour and add garlic powder and onion powder. Whisk.

Step 2: Add in your shredded cheddar cheese and mix in. (I used pre-shredded cheese)

Step 3: Add your cold heavy cream.

Step 4: Mix together into a wet sticky dough. You did it right.

Step 5: Use a medium scoop, a ¼ cup measuring cup, or 2 spoons to portion out biscuit dough onto your parchment lined tray.

Step 6: Brush the tops with a little more heavy cream and bake at 425°F for 13 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown and fluffy.

Step 7: While the biscuits are baking, melt ¼ cup of butter and stir in kosher salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and parsley flakes.

Step 8: Brush your butter mixture on top of the cheese biscuits as soon as they come out of the oven. Let cool a few minutes before absolutely tearing into at least 6 of these things.

Hint: Your biscuits will continue to "bake" from the residual heat, so give them the space to do that. Allowing the biscuits to sit for about 10 minutes actually gives them time to finish cooking. If you break one open straight out of the oven, it may look a little gummy. Don't do that to yourself - or the biscuit. Be cool and let it cool.

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