3912. HAVARTI BREAKFAST BISCUITS with JALAPENO, BACON and ARUGULA

Yield: makes about 16 biscuits


Biscuits
:
6 slices bacon

2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped (you can leave some seeds if you want more heat)
3 cups all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into tiny pieces

8 ounces havarti cheese, freshly grated

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1/4 cup heavy cream

For serving:

eggs, cooked to your liking

bacon slices

1 to 2 cups of arugula (depends on how many you're serving), tossed with salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Heat a large skillet over medium-low heat and add the bacon. Cook until the fat is rendered and the bacon is crispy. Transfer the bacon to a paper towel to drain the grease. Once it's cool, crumble into tiny pieces. In the same skillet, add the chopped jalapeno peppers. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes then turn off the heat and stir for another minute or so.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt. Using a fork, pastry blender or your hands, add the cold butter pieces to the flour and mix until coarse little crumbles remain. I use my hands and mix for almost 5 minutes. Add in the crumbled bacon, the peppers (a few spoonfuls of bacon grease with the peppers doesn't hurt) and the grated havarti. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, stirring with a large spoon until just combined, not overmixing. Use your hands if needed to bring the dough together.

Pat the dough into a circle that is about 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick. Using a biscuit/cookie cutter, cut the dough into rounds and place on a nonstick baking sheet. You may need to bring the dough together and flatten it more to get the last few biscuits. Additionally, you could also just drop large spoonfuls of batter on the baking sheet and form them that way. Brush the top of the biscuits with the heavy cream.

Bake the biscuits for 10 to 12 minutes or until they are golden and high. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly. While the biscuits bake, you can cook your eggs and fry any extra bacon!

To serve, add the arugula, bacon slices and egg on the biscuit.


bacon recipe source: Jessica Merchant, How Sweet It Is (@HowSweetBlog), April 15, 2015