Cream Cheese and Chive Biscuits

I am usually pretty good at cooking. I can usually get something to taste pretty yummy. However, there is one type of food that I have messed up more than any other food: Biscuits. I don’t know why, either. I have made so many yucky biscuits, and I don’t really know what I do wrong. Don’t worry, I didn’t post the yucky ones on this blog. Because I have had so many biscuit blunders, I am always making them in hopes that I will one day find a delicious flaky, soft, easy biscuit recipe. Well, my friends, the day has finally come. I found it. The most delicious biscuits that I have ever made! I think the cream cheese really made them great. They were also flaky enough that I could peel off layers and eat them one at a time, which is the same kind of fun indulgence as string cheese. It makes you feel like a kid again.
PRINTABLE RECIPE
Ingredients:

• 2-1/2 C. all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1-1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 TBSP. sugar
• 1/4 C. finely chopped fresh chives
• 1 stick cold butter, cut into small pieces
• 4 ounces cold cream cheese, cut into small pieces
• 1-1/4 C. buttermilk

Directions:
1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. In  a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, and chives. Using a pastry blender, but in the butter and cream cheese until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with a few larger clumps remaining.

2. Pour in the buttermilk. Using a fork, mix in buttermilk until incorporated and the dough just comes together. The dough will be slightly sticky. Do not over mix.
3. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. With floured fingers, gently knead about 4 times, until all the crumbs are incorporated and the dough is smooth. With a floured rolling pin, gently roll out eh dough into a rectangle about the size of a piece of printer paper and about 1 inch thick. Imagine this dough is a piece of paper through out the rest of this recipe. Have it set out in front of you “portrait” style rather than “landscape.” In other words have it vertical rather than horizontal. Using a bench scraper or a long spatula, lift the top third of the dough and fold it down. Then fold the bottom third of the dough up.  It is kind of like folding a business letter so it will fit into an envelope.

4. Now give the dough a quarter turn so it is vertical or “portrait” layout once again. Roll out the dough again so it is as big as a piece of paper  again. Repeat the business letter folding process again. Wrap with plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5. Return the dough to the work surface. Roll out as before and repeat the folding process. Give the dough one more quarter turn and roll out again. Now, using a sharp knife, trim off about 1/4 inch from all the sides. Divide the rectangle into 12 equal squares or rectangles. Place on the baking sheet about 1-1/2 inches apart. Refrigerate for 1 hour (I just popped them in the freezer for about 15 minutes, but I guess that’s probably cheating).

6. Preheat the oven to 425 F. Bake, rotating the sheet halfway through, until the biscuits are golden and flecked with brown spots, 15 to 18 minutes.
Note: Twist the leftover edges that you trimmed off the biscuit dough into bread sticks and serve them with pasta the next day.

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook