Brunch is my favorite meal on the planet, and the recipe I’m sharing today is hands-down everything I need brunch to be. My Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits with Country Ham and Local Honey are soft, buttery, cheesy and warm. The salty country ham is sliced thin and crisped up in my cast iron skillet. I drizzle sweet honey over the top, and everything is right with the world.
Now, if honey is not your thing, you could just as easily serve these with some spicy brown mustard, blackberry jam or a little red eye gravy. Easter is coming up, and this dish would make a fine meal when you get home from Sunrise Service or after Sunday church. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the risen Savior than with a risen biscuit! Perfection.
This cheddar biscuit with country ham is a play on a classic ham and cheese sandwich…just taken to the next level with honey for total happiness.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. Don’t be intimidated by the process of making biscuits from scratch. Follow my instructions to the T, and you’ll have these amazing fresh baked biscuits straight from your oven in minutes. Three tips to creating Some Kinda Good biscuits include: 1) Not overworking the dough, 2) Using really cold butter, and 3) Baking them in a really hot oven.
Using a knife, chop your butter into small cubes and work it into the dry ingredients with your hands, a fork or pastry cutter, until the dough resembles course crumbles.
Once your cheese has been grated and added to the dry ingredients, you’ll need to fold in a cup of buttermilk.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and shape it into a rectangle of sorts, about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. From here, you can cut the dough into 9 even squares or use a biscuit cutter to cut out individual biscuits. Sprinkle the dough with a little extra flour to keep it from sticking to everything.
Melt about a tablespoon of butter to brush over the tops of the biscuits before placing them in the oven to bake.
When the biscuits are ready, they will spread out and puff up, rising to the occasion. Using a little vegetable oil, I crisp up my country ham over high heat in a smaller cast iron skillet for about 2 minutes on each side.
A note on country ham: This stuff is salt cured, meaning you don’t need to add any additional salt. You can find country ham in the same section of the grocery store where the large hams are sold, often in small packages as pictured above. Make sure you get it thinly sliced, because that is the best way to eat it on a biscuit. I soaked the slices in a bowl of warm water to reduce the saltiness for about 5 minutes before cooking it. Country ham is my absolute FAVORITE way to eat ham. This is nothing like basic ham. Trust a Southern sista!
Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits
2 1/4 cups of All-Purpose Flour
1 Teaspoon baking soda
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 Teaspoon kosher salt
1 Stick cold unsalted butter, diced
1/4 Cup of Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded
1 cup Buttermilk
1 Tablespoon melted butter, for brushing
Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. Whisk together dry ingredients. Add cubed butter and incorporate with fingers until flour mixture resembles course crumbs. Add cheese, then fold in buttermilk, just until the dough comes together. Flour your counter top, and turn the dough out onto the surface. Pat it into a rectangle, about a 1/2 of an inch thick. Cut the biscuits into 9 individual portions, or use a biscuit cutter. Heck, you can even use a round drinking glass (just be sure to flour the rim beforehand, so the dough releases easy). Place the biscuits in a greased cast iron skillet or on a greased baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, until the biscuits have risen. During the last few minutes, I like to turn the broiler on to get the top of the biscuits to achieve that beautiful golden brown color. When they come out of the oven, finish them off with more melted butter.
Country Ham Soak country ham slices in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes and drain. Pat the ham slices dry. Add about a tablespoon of vegetable oil to a medium skillet over high heat. Sear ham slices for about 2 minutes on each side and place 1 slice in each biscuit. Drizzle ham biscuits with honey and feast.
Have a Happy and SOME KINDA GOOD Easter!
For more Easter dinner ideas, check out my Easter Entertaining: Recipes and Recollections post, including a to-die-for slow cooker mac & cheese!
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Georgia native Rebekah Faulk Lingenfelser is a freelance writer, entertainer and food enthusiast who writes and speaks about her love of good food and the Coastal South. A Season 2 Contestant on ABC’s “The Taste,” she is the Statesboro Herald food columnist and host of SKG-TV on YouTube. A public relations graduate of Georgia Southern University, Rebekah also attended Savannah Technical College’s Culinary Institute of Savannah. To learn more, connect with Some Kinda Good on social media, or visit RebekahLingenfelser.com.
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