Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuits

This is an amazing copy cat recipe for the famous Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits. I'm ashamed to say these buttery delights are the only reason I will ever go to Red Lobster. The recipe is from an awesome book my Mom has that details hundreds of restaurant dishes and how to make them at home. It's a gold mine and I highly recommend buying a copy: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes by Todd Wilbur. This man is a genius and there are THREE editions.

"Cutting the butter" with the Bisquick

 

Consistency of the dough after all ingredients have been mixed

 

Take biscuits out after 10 minutes of baking and sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 5 more mins.



Ingredients:
2 and 1/2 cups Bisquick
3/4 cup milk (I prefer to use whole milk...biscuits need the fat)
1/2 stick cold butter
3/4 teaspoon garlic salt (original recipe calls for garlic powder, but I like the saltiness (duh) from the garlic salt)
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Recipe:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Combine Bisquick with cold butter in a medium bowl using a pastry cutter or a large fork. You don't want to mix too thoroughly. There should be small chunks of butter in there that are about the size of peas. This is called "cutting the butter" and is a technique that is also used when making pastry dough. See picture above for an example.

3. Add cheddar cheese, milk, and ¼ teaspoon garlic. Mix by hand until combined, but don't over mix.

4. Make 1/4 cup balls with your hands and place on ungreased baking sheet. The original recipe says to use an ice cream scoop, but your hands work fine. Just make sure not to "manhandle" the dough too much, you still want the butter to be cold when it goes into the oven.

5. Total bake time is 15 minutes, or until the biscuit is just starting to brown. I bake mine for 10 mintes, remove from the ove, sprinkle with grated cheese and pop back in for the last 5. The melted cheese on top really adds to the presentation. The original recipe calls for melted butter to be brushed on top of the buscuits when removed from the oven, but I think they are rich enough without it! Optional: top with chopped fresh parsley.

Recipe makes 12 nice portions!