My family and I recently took a short trip to Charleston, South Carolina. When I say short, I mean short – we spent about a night and a day there (it was an extension of our trip to Charlotte, North Carolina). Because our trip was so quick, I tried my best to research the best places to eat and visit beforehand to help plan our day in the quaint town. We had a lot to do in a small window of time, but our top priorities were the beach, good southern barbecue and biscuits.
I came across a place called Callie’s Biscuits a couple of times while researching places to fill my southern food cravings, and knew we had to stop by. Callie’s is a little biscuit shop right on one of the main streets in Charleston. It’s a narrow, warm little place that offers a small handful of delicious, flavorful biscuits. They pair their biscuits with peppered bacon, jam and fried chicken, and also have grits and pimento cheese sandwiches – I can’t tell you how bummed I am that we didn’t try either of these!
My husband had a buttermilk biscuit and I had a cheese and chive. Both were soft, warm and flaky – what all biscuit dreams are made of. It was quite the experience choosing from the incredible variety of biscuits, and I found myself conjuring up my own fun flavor combos. And that, my friends is when the breakfast sausage, goat cheese and cherry biscuit was born.
My husband (aka the biscuit connoisseur) is obsessed with this combo. We both couldn’t get enough when I made these the other day.
They are made with buttermilk, which makes the dough extra creamy. Before putting them in the oven, I brushed them with a heavy cream and maple syrup combo, a technique I totally stole from Chrissy Teigen’s cookbook, Cravings. The brush of cream and maple syrup makes the tops of the biscuits crispy and brown, adding a light, sweet touch.
I need more of these in my life!! Would it be totally unacceptable to make them for dinner tonight? I mean it is national biscuits and gravy day, and the only way to appropriately celebrate is with biscuits, right?
If you end up making these, don’t forget to tag your photos with #marinamakeseats!
Breakfast Sausage, Goat Cheese and Cherry Biscuits
Ingredients
Biscuits
- 3/4 pound of breakfast sausage (a little more if it’s your fav)
- 3-4 fresh sage leaves, chopped
- 3 1/4 cups of flour
- 1 tablespoon of baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
- 3/4 cup of cold unsalted butter (cut into small cubes and kept in the fridge until ready to use; it’s super important butter is very cold when you mix everything)
- 2 cups of buttermilk
- 6 oz of goat cheese
- 1/2 cup of dried cherries (can substitute with dried cranberries)
Maple Cream
- 4 tablespoons of heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons of maple syrup
- A pinch of salt
Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Using a medium pan, heat the sausage over medium-high heat until browned. Add the chopped sage leaves, stirring to coat them in the sausage grease. Cook the sage leaves for a couple of minutes.
While the sausage is cooking, stir to combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar in a medium bowl. Using a pastry cutter (fork or potato masher will do the trick too), cut the butter into the dry flour mixture, until butter is the size of peas. Add the cooked sausage and all its grease to the bowl.
Next, gradually add the buttermilk, stirring until ingredients are just combined (don’t over stir!). Crumble goat cheese into the bowl and add the dried cherries. Stir with your hands until just combined.
On a floured surface, knead the dough a couple of times, and then pat it into a rectangle, about 1-2 inches thick. Using a biscuit cutter (large glass or round cookie cutter will also work), cut each biscuit and place on a baking sheet. Once all of the biscuits are cut, combine heavy cream, maple syrup and salt to make the maple cream. Heavily brush the tops of each biscuit with the maple cream.
Place biscuits in the oven to cook for 17-20 minutes, or until golden brown on the top.
Marina Makes 