Cacio e Pepe Biscuits
Salty Pecorino Romano cheese and spicy, floral black pepper make these Cacio e Pepe Biscuits taste just like the classic Italian pasta dish. Flaky, buttery, cheesy, and slightly spicy - you’ve found your new go-to biscuit!
Servings: 12 biscuits
Calories: 250kcal
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ tablespoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- 12 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup Pecorino Romano + ¼ cup for the tops
- 1 tablespoon black pepper + more for the tops
- 1 ¼ cup buttermilk
Egg wash
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon water or milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450°F. Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper or foil and set aside. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
- Toss cold butter cubes into the dry ingredients and, using a pastry cutter or your fingers, mix in the cold butter until you have a mixture of flat pieces and crumbly, pea sized bits of butter mixed into the flour. Toss in 1 cup of your grated Romano cheese and 1 tablespoon of freshly cracked black pepper or coarse ground pepper.
- Make a well in the center of the mixture and add the cold buttermilk. Gently mix the buttermilk and the dry ingredients together until you have a fairly uniform, loose dough. The flour won't look all mixed in and that's okay. It will come together.
- Dump the shaggy dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Using your hands, gently bring it everything together into a rough square.
- With a bench scraper or knife, cut into four smaller squares. Stack the pieces of biscuit dough on top of each other. Smush it all down into a square again. Repeat this cutting and stacking procedure 2 more times.
- Pat the dough into a rectangle at least ½ inch thick. Using a biscuit cutter or cookie cutter, cut out your biscuits. Gather your scraps as you go and gently re-form them together and cut as many biscuits as you can. Place sheet pan in the freezer for 10-15 minutes while you preheat your oven.
- Remove biscuits from the freezer. Brush the tops of the biscuits lightly with an egg wash and sprinkle with more grated Romano cheese and black pepper. Bake in a 450° oven for 18 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
Notes
Alternative food processor instructions: Place cubed butter in the freezer for 10-15 minutes while you get all your other ingredients together. Measure all of your dry ingredients into the bowl of your food processor. Pulse a few times to mix. Add chilled butter to the dry ingredients and pulse 5-6 times, or until most of the butter is in pea sized, or smaller, pieces. Pour into a mixing bowl and proceed with the rest of the instructions.
Round biscuits: Do not twist your biscuit cutter when cutting them out! That will effectively seal the edges of the biscuits, keeping them from fully rising. Just press straight down and lift straight up.
To make square biscuits: Using your bench scraper or a knife, cut into square biscuits and place each piece on your parchment lined baking sheet. Place in freezer while you preheat the oven.
Nutrition
Calories: 250kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.5g | Cholesterol: 39mg | Sodium: 686mg | Potassium: 51mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 0.5g | Vitamin A: 387IU | Calcium: 187mg | Iron: 2mg
