3.20.2013

More Breakfast For Dinner: BLT Biscuit Bar

BLT biscuits

After making the chicken and biscuit waffles from Breakfast for Dinner, I had leftover buttermilk, so I decided to make another biscuit-based recipe: BLT biscuits. Now I love BLTs, but Jeff isn't a huge fan -- he loves the B but not the L and T. So I put my own spin on this recipe, and after I cooked the bacon, I put a pounded-thin chicken breast on the same sheet pan and baked it in bacon grease (yes, I really did that), and then I used my biscuit cutter to cut pieces of chicken that would fit perfectly on the biscuits. Since I was making this modification, I thought it would be fun to create a BLT biscuit bar, as opposed to pre-making all the biscuit sandwiches as instructed in the recipe. This way we could each put whatever we wanted on our own sandwiches. I think this would be a really fun serving idea for a "breakfast for dinner" party. (People have those, right?)


BLT biscuit barBLT biscuit bar

BLT biscuits

BLT Biscuit Bar 
(adapted from Breakfast for Dinner)

Makes 12 biscuits

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut in pieces
2/3 cup buttermilk

2 ripe tennis-ball-size tomatoes, sliced and seasoned with salt and pepper (I used Backyard Farms)
4-6 Boston or Bibb lettuce leaves, washed and separated
2 tablespoons honey whisked with 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard (to make honey mustard)
12 slices cooked, crispy bacon
1 cooked chicken breast, cut to fit biscuits
Anything else you want!

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper together in bowl. Cut in butter with pastry blender until mixture resembles course crumbs. Using fork, stir in buttermilk until dough comes together.

Turn out dough onto floured counter and dust dough with flour, if needed. (My dough was on the dry side, so I didn't end up dusting the counter or the dough.) Pat dough into 1-inch-thick rectangle, then fold in half. Repeat patting and folding 3 or 4 more times.

Press dough into 1/2-inch-thick rectangle, and cut into rounds with 2 1/4-inch biscuit cutter. Reroll scraps once and cut into rounds. (You should end up with 12 rounds.) Arrange rounds an inch apart on baking sheet.


Bake until tops are lightly golden brown, about 10 minutes. Let cool slightly.


Arrange tomatoes, lettuce, honey mustard, bacon, chicken, and biscuits (and anything else you want) on serving platter.

BLT biscuit bar

Split your biscuits, load them up with whatever you like, and dig in! (You'll have to break the bacon in half and tear off pieces of lettuce to make them biscuit-size.)

BLT biscuitBLT biscuit

Quick tip: Any leftover biscuit fixings make a great salad drizzled with the honey mustard.

I thought this was a really fun idea, and I would definitely make these again. The biscuits could use a little something, so maybe I'd sprinkle them with kosher salt before baking next time. Otherwise, they were very tasty and everything you put inside will add tons of flavor too. And I loved the honey mustard as opposed to the usual pairing of mayo with a BLT.

What would you put on your BLT biscuit?