The perfect snack- salty, garlicky and cheesy fluffy biscuits. Perfect for a rainy day.

These cheesy biscuits are made from sharp red cheddar cheese and really simple ingredients right from your pantry! All you need are all purpose flour, your leavening agents, the cheese, garlic, butter and buttermilk! 

The leavening agents used here are baking powder and baking soda. 

Baking powder is necessary to give the biscuits a soft and fluffy rise while the baking soda reacts with the acid in the buttermilk to make the biscuits rise beautifully. 

If you haven't heard of buttermilk, it is basically "sour milk", or milk that has been curdled with an acid, such as lemon juice or white vinegar. To make your own buttermilk, substitute one cup of milk with 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice and fill the rest of the cup with plain milk. Leave the mixture to curdle for about 5 minutes and you've got your very own buttermilk! No need to search high and low for this important ingredient in your local supermarket. Buttermilk is also an important ingredient in make fluffy pancakes, scones and cakes. 

I used shredded sharp red cheddar in this recipe, but you could definitely replace this with shredded mozzarella or white cheddar, depending on your taste. I find sharp red cheddar gives this biscuits a beautiful orange hue and lots of cheesy flavour, but any cheese works fine! Try not to use processed cheeses- you will realise the flavours will be quite different! 

Cheese + Garlic= Matchmake in heaven. I mean, who doesn't love cheese and garlic? My mum found these a little too garlicky, but it was the perfect combination for me! The original recipe uses garlic powder, but I used fresh garlic instead! I minced my garlic up finely and just dropped it together with the dry ingredients. Go ahead and use whatever you have on hand. 

At this point, you can also add any flavourings you like. Go ahead and mix a variety of cheeses into your biscuits. I added cayenne pepper, which added a great kick of spiciness into these biscuits. Adjust the flavours if you like and suit them to your taste :) 

Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Adapted from "http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2013/04/18/red-lobster-cheddar-bay-biscuits-recipe/"

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

¾ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (about 1 cup shredded)

1 cup buttermilk, cold

½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled for 5 minutes

For the Topping:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, divided

½ teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon minced fresh parsley (or ¼ teaspoon dried)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a non-stick baking mat; set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt, garlic powder and cayenne. Stir in the cheddar cheese; set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, stir together the buttermilk and melted butter until the butter forms small clumps.

4. Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and mix gently with a rubber spatula just until a dough forms and no dry ingredients remain. Use a greased ¼-cup measuring cup to scoop out portions of dough. Place on the prepared baking sheet, leaving a little more than an inch between biscuits.

5. Bake until the biscuits are golden brown, about 12 minutes. While the biscuits are in the oven, stir together the 2 tablespoons melted butter, garlic powder and parsley. Remove the biscuits from the oven and immediately brush with the topping mixture. Allow to cool for at least 5 minutes before serving. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container or zip-top back at room temperature for up to 3 days.