A few months ago, I went and investigated a new little grocery store not too far from my house in search of some rich beef bone broth. I found some bone broth and several other cute items that I knew I “needed” while shopping. One of those items was a jar of raspberry jam. I have never really been a big jam or jelly fan, my kids and husband devour it though. They eat it on everything, especially frozen waffles for breakfast. When I tried this raspberry jam, my opinion totally shifted. It was sweet and tangy and I really enjoyed the crunch the seeds added to the texture of the jam. It was smooth and not too gelatinous either which sometimes puts me off of jellies. So when I came across a recipe for biscuits and homemade jam I couldn’t wait to try it out. The biscuits looked like they had super flaky layers and an interesting addition of cream cheese between the layers. I always add granulated sugar to the top of my biscuits because of my love of the sweet topped biscuits from Flying Biscuit in Atlanta, Georgia where I went to college. I have never been able to master their recipe but this biscuit give it a run for its money. I am super pleased with how both recipes turned out and hope that you give them a chance and add them to your breakfast rotation.
The ingredients for this recipe are 3 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, 2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon of course sea salt, 16 tablespoons of very cold salted butter, 1 cup cold buttermilk, 2 ounces of very cold cream cheese cut into 3 slices, 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar.
To begin making the biscuits I preheated the oven to 350 F degrees and lined a smaller sized baking pan with parchment paper. Then, I put all the dry ingredients besides the granulated sugar into a large mixing bowl and stirred them to mix. I placed the cold butter (I always pop mine in the freezer for a few minutes before making biscuits) into the dry ingredients and used my hands to make sure each piece is coated in the flour mixture, then used the pastry cutter to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until all of the butter is the size of large peas. Next, I added half the buttermilk and a dough whisk to mix it in and then add the second half of the buttermilk and mixed it in until I had a very shaggy mixture.
I dumped the dough onto my dough mat and used it to make the shaggy mixture into a more cohesive dough. I did this by picking up sides of the mat and pressing it down onto the dough, essentially folding the mixture over and over again until it came together. I switched my folding side each time to try to make sure there were no dry pockets of flour left. I then made it into a roughly 8-by-8 inch square and used my bench scraper to divide it into 4 sections. I placed a slightly flattened piece of cream cheese on top of 3 of the squares and then stacked them up so that the final square without any cream cheese was on top. I used my hand to press the dough down and then a floured rolling pin to roll the dough out to 1 inch thickness (I think I will go a little thicker next time). I used my bench scraper to cut to dough into pieces (I ended up making smaller pieces than the ones shown so that I could share them more easily, but any size will work).
I love all the layers that you can see in the biscuits after you slice them. I placed them slightly close together on a baking sheet and placed the baking sheet in the freezer for 15 minutes. I have heard that if you want taller biscuits, place them closer together on a baking sheet and they will grow taller rather than spread out. After they cooled, I brushed the tops with buttermilk and sprinkled the granulated sugar on top. The recipe called but melted butter, I tried that the second time I made the biscuits and it did give a darker color on top, and was equally as delicious. I baked the biscuits for about 22 minutes for the smaller size and about 26 minutes when I made them the second time and made them larger.
While the biscuits are cooling I made the raspberry jam. The recipe originally called for strawberry jam, but I had a feeling this would work well with raspberries and I was not disappointed in the least. I used 3 1/2 cups of fresh raspberries, 1/4 cup of honey, 2 teaspoons of lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of raspberry jam (this is optional) and 1 tablespoon of bourbon (also optional).
I put the raspberries, honey and lemon juice in a pan and placed it over high heat and let it cook for 5 – 8 minutes. While it was cooking, I used my spatula to break up the raspberries and scrape the bottom and sides of the pan. I was watching for the jam to reduce by about a 1/3. Then I pulled the raspberries off the stove and added the jam and bourbon. I mixed them in and put the raspberries back on the stove and continued to cook it for about 2 more minutes, until it looked nice and thickened and didn’t have any big puddles of liquid left in the pan. I poured my jam into a 16 ounce wide mouth mason jar to cool.
After the biscuits and jam were both cooled, I couldn’t help but bust into these amazingly flaky layer and spread a thick smear of tangy jam all over. These were seriously such a perfect pairing. The tartness from the raspberries cuts nicely through the richness from the butter and cream cheese in the biscuits making these a match that your heart will love and your friends with crave. If you aren’t a jam fan, you cannot beat a nice buttery biscuit either, as it has been said before and will be said again, everything is better with butter!
Recipe:
Ingredients:
- Biscuits
- 3 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
- 2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon corse sea salt
- 16 tablespoons of very cold butter
- 1 cup very cold buttermilk
- buttermilk or melted butter to brush the tops
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar for the tops
- Jam
- 3 1/2 cups of fresh raspberries
- 1/4 cup of honey
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons raspberry jam (optional)
- 1 tablespoon bourbon (optional)
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350 F degrees and line a baking sheet that can fit in your freezer with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the butter and toss with your hands to be sure each piece of butter is coated in flour. Use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour until it is the size of large peas. Use a dough whisk to mix in half the buttermilk and then do mix in the second half until the dough is very shaggy.
- Pour the dough out onto a dough mat and use the mat to fold the dough over on itself as many times as it takes until until it comes together and can hold its shape in a 8-by-8 inch square.
- Cut the dough into 4 equal sized pieces. Place the cream cheese on top of 3 pieces and stack them up ending with the bare piece of dough on top.
- Press the stack down with your hand and then lightly flour the top and roll into a 1 inch slab. Cut the dough into 9 to 12 pieces depending on the size of biscuit your prefer.
- Place the biscuits on the baking sheet slightly closer than normal and put them in the freezer for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, brush the biscuits with either more buttermilk or melted butter and sprinkle with granulated sugar.
- Bake the biscuits for 22-26 minutes. After baking cool on a cooling rack or serve warm.
- To make the jam – place the raspberries, honey and lemon juice in a sauce pan over high heat on the stove. Stir frequently and mash the fruit while stirring. Bring to a boil and let reduce for 5-8 minutes or until 1/3 of the mixture has reduced.
- Add the bourbon and jam and mix. Return to the heat for another 1 – 2 minutes.
- Remove the jam from the heat and pour into a 16 ounce jar with a tight fitting lid. Leave the jar open and allow the jam to cool.
- Spread a thick layer of jam on your biscuit and enjoy!
Recipe adapted from Half Baked Harvest
Allie and the Oven 