Rosemary Cheese Biscuits

I had a great weekend in Los Angeles.  I visited with many dear friends, made a few new ones, and spent lots of time outside.  More so than on any of my previous trips to LA, I began to understand the allure of Southern California.  The sunshine and beaches are truly amazing and if you time it just right, it actually only takes 45 minutes to get anywhere, not an hour. 

Yet again, I am shamelessly exploiting California’s beautiful natural resources and posting pictures of the coastline.  These were taken from a hike in Malibu.  Until this visit, I had only seen the part of Malibu that is primarily fenced off mansions blocking all views of the ocean, and one semi-nice beach.  Once you go a bit further north though, there are beautiful open space preserves with rolling green hills, fantastic views of the mountains, and sweeping vistas of the deep blue Pacific.

I wanted a simple meal the day after we returned.  The idea of popovers has been stuck in my head for the past few weeks.  I remember my mom making popovers when we were kids that were perfect, with a bready, almost slightly tart flavor and soft and airy interior.  I set out to recreate this experience while using up some leftover buttermilk in my refrigerator, and enhancing the flavor profile. 

At first I was a little disappointed with the result, because my popovers didn’t “pop”. I’ve done a little research and am still not sure why – I’m leaning towards my batter being too dense and the oven not hot enough.  But rather than have a total failure on my hands, they were delicious.  I am calling them biscuits but that’s a bit of misnomer; they are somewhere between a biscuit and a popover, with a nice cheesy top. My husband and I polished off all nine at dinner. 

Ingredients

2/3 cup of whole wheat pastry flour

1/3 cup of regular flour

½ tsp salt

a few grinds of pepper

1/3 cup of grated romano or parmesan cheese (I used pecorino romano)

2 tsp dried rosemary

1 TBL melted butter plus more for the pan

1 cup of buttermilk

2 eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Butter a muffin tin.
3. Combine the flour, salt, pepper and rosemary in a bowl.  Add in the melted butter and buttermilk and stir until just combined.
4. Add in the two eggs and again, stir until just combined.
5. Pour the batter into the buttered muffin tins.  Fill about 2/3 of the way.  Sprinkle the parmesan cheese on top of each biscuit.
6. Cook for 30-35 minutes.  Try not to open the oven during this time.  After about 30 minutes, you can peek and test with a fork if need be.
7. Serve warm with butter and/or jam.  

Makes nine small biscuits.

P.S. If anyone has a trusted popover recipe, please send!