Let’s talk about herbs—fresh herbs. I have mixed feelings when it comes to fresh herbs. On the one hand, I love them—they can add zest and zip to all sorts of dishes. On the other hand they kind of scare me. Sometimes I feel unsure about the quantity of herbs I should add to dishes. How much is too much? I’m also a little insecure when it comes to which herbs go well together. Can you mix together thyme, sage, rosemary, and dill and still end up with something edible?
Because my love for fresh herbs trumps my fear, I recently decided to be bolder with my use of herbs (receiving a gift of several large bunches of fresh herbs, also forced me to be a little bolder). I’ve been throwing fresh herbs into all sorts of dishes and experimenting with different quantities and mixtures and to date we’ve loved the results.
One of our favorite recent “herby” recipes was for biscuits. These biscuits were an experiment to see what happened when I added large quantities of several types of fresh herbs together. What ended up happening was something fantastic! The chubby little biscuits were bursting with zesty herb and savory cheese flavor. Just thinking about them makes my mouth water! Why not give them a try and experiment with your own herb mixture?
Fresh Herb and Cheese Biscuits
Adapted from Food Network’s Down Home with the Neelys
For the cheese, I used a mixture of pecorino and manchego cheeses, because that’s what I had on hand. Feel free to mix up the recipe with different cheese or a different mixture of herbs. The fresh dill was delightful though…
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
- 3/4 cup grated cheese
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup non-fat Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted (optional)
Preheat the oven to 350°. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and cayenne pepper. Fold in the herbs and cheese and then add in the milk and yogurt. Mix together until everything is just incorporated.
Using a large spoon, scoop out dough and place onto a parchment paper lined baking pan (or lightly oiled baking pan). Brush the top of the biscuits with a little melted butter. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown.
Tasty Easy Healthy Green Recipe Ratings:
| Recipe Report Card | Notes About Recipe Ratings |
|
Tasty Rating Four Chefs (Delicious!) |
The fresh herb and cheese mixture was a winning combination! |
|
Easy Rating
Four Easy Chairs (ABC, Easy as 123…) |
A super simple and very quick recipe. If you are a fast herb chopper, you could have fresh biscuits in 30 minutes or less. |
|
Healthy Rating
Two Apples (Surgeon General’s Warning!) |
This recipe could be made healthier with some whole-wheat flour. The cheese and butter topping add some saturated fat to the mix as well. |
|
Green Rating
Four Leaves (Mother Earth Approved) |
The herbs were all local and organic and with the exception of the cheese, most of the remaining ingredients were organic. |
I like the fact that this biscuit recipe isn’t loaded with fat. I will be brave and take the plunge with all these herbs! I love dill in anything!