the details

Blue cheese can be a polarizing topic. But let me be clear, I am FIRMLY in the pro-blue camp and say the funkier, the better. Blue lends just the richest salty, savoriness to everything so I wanted to incorporate it into a biscuit for purely selfish reasons. Turns out, these biscuits are just as amazing as I always dreamed. They have solid flakes, bake up tall enough to easily spit in two + make a yummy biscuit sammy, and have JUST the right amount of blue flavor to complement the biscuit but not overtake it. And naturally, since we have a salty, savory biscuit, they are topped with a salted honey butter. Yup, these Blue Cheese Buttermilk Biscuits are just really really really good. You should definitely make them.

Ingredients + Process:

As my friend Haley says, not all blues are created equal. One thing I love about these biscuits is that you can totally customize the flavor of the finished biscuit by the blue cheese that you choose. Want it to be extra funky? Get yourself a Stilton. Not totally sold on a strong blue flavor? Mild gorgonzola is your friend. Whatever you choose, I find this recipe is enjoyed even by those who aren’t blue cheese enthusiasts. I chalk it up to the honey butter. Who doesn’t like honey butter?!

Armed with the right tips and methods, making biscuits is actually really easy! A few small tweaks can make the difference between okay biscuits and delicious tall, flaky biscuits. Through trial and error and lots of internet research, here’s my biscuit wisdom to share with you all.

Keep your ingredients cold! Similar to making scones, we want all wet/dairy ingredients as cold as possible throughout baking. So, we freeze and grate our butter. We use buttermilk and blue cheese straight out of the fridge. If you need a few minutes to prep a space or step away from the dough, stick it in the fridge. This keeps the butter in nice chunks and helps the biscuits be fluffy.
Before we bake our biscuits, chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. You can pop it in the freezer for 10 if you are short on time, but I find biscuits chilled in the fridge bake up juuuust a smidge nicer.
When you mix together dry and wet ingredients, mix with a spatula until almost combined! We want the dough to still be crumbly and not quite cohesive. Once you turn it out onto your rolling station, I use a bench scraper and my hands to squish it all together. This helps create those butter pockets in the dough that lead to flakiness.
Don’t twists the biscuit cutter when cutting out the biscuits. Dip it in flour to prevent sticking, push to cut it out, and remove. This helps get sharper sides and maintains the flaky layers.
Use European butter! (AKA, Kerrygold or Plugara.) It has a higher fat content and is made from pasture-raised cows. In a bake like biscuits, butter quality makes a difference.

These biscuits are maybe an all-time favorite in our house right now. I hope you love them as much as we do!

Similar recipes

For my savory friends out there, check out my Rosemary-Gruyere Buttermilk Scon es. Cheese-y, herby, and flaky, just like these biscuits!

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Blue Cheese Buttermilk Biscuits

Print Recipe

Sweet, salty, and funky, these blue cheese biscuits are just beyond. They flake beautifully and bake up nice and tall with those perfect biscuit layers.

Yield: 10–15 biscuits 1x

Ingredients

Units Scale

For the biscuit dough:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup salted European butter, frozen and grated
1 cup + 1/3 cup buttermilk, divided
1 tbsp honey
1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles

For the honey butter:

3 tbsp honey
2 tbsp salted butter, melted

Instructions

Make the biscuit dough. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Add frozen grated butter and mix together with your fingers until the mixture looks like fine crumbles.
Make a well in the center of the flour/butter mixture, and pour in 1 cup cold buttermilk, blue cheese crumbles, and honey. Using a spatula, mix and fold ingredients together until almost combined (there will still be streaks of flour, and that’s okay). Stick the biscuit dough in the fridge and ready a roll-out station.
Turn out dough onto a clean and generously floured surface. Roll out/shape the dough into a rectangle that is about 3/4 inch thick. Fold over one side of the rectangle to the middle, and fold over the opposite side to meet it. Roll out until it is 3/4 inch thick again. Turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat. Turn 90 and repeat folding and rolling once more.
Dip your biscuit cutter in flour and cut out as many biscuits as you can. Place biscuits onto a prepared sheet pan with parchment or silpat. Don’t twist the biscuit cutter to keep those clean sides. With the dough scraps, you can smoosh them together and re-roll them out to get another biscuit or two.
Brush biscuit tops with remaining cold buttermilk and pop the whole baking sheet in the fridge to chill for 30 mins.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Bake the biscuits for 10-15 minutes until the tops are nicely browned. Rotate the baking sheet halfway through for even browning.
While the biscuits are cooking, make your honey butter. Melt salted butter and whisk together with honey. Once biscuits are out of the oven, brush the tops generously with honey butter while still warm. Serve biscuits warm!

Notes

I used a 2 1/2 inch round biscuit cutter, for larger biscuits, increase cook time by a few minutes.
I like to serve these biscuits with extra honey for drizzling. They are also delicious with hot honey (!).
If you’re in a hurry, you can chill the biscuit dough in the freezer for 10-15 mins instead of in the fridge for 30 minutes just before baking.
For rich, delicious biscuits I highly recommend European butter, which has a higher fat content! In a pinch regular salted butter would also work.

Author: Caroline Crockett