Playing Pretend

Flaky and tender.

Sean and I like to pretend some times. You know, that there is no brain tumour in our lives. And that means so nutritional restrictions so we can eat and drink whatever we fancy. There's no need to wake up at 7.30am daily, 365 days a year to make sure anti-seizure tablets are taken. It's a nice fantasy where we can also have sleep in late, order every possible fatty, sugary and copper-laden item off a menu and indulge in wine or cocktails until we are both giggly.

So in honour of a pretend day, I think these bacon and cheese biscuits fit the bill nicely. It had white flour, which is absent in our house. Bacon, which we indulge in rarely. And a copious amount of cheese - another 'treat' by our standards. I stumbled on the recipe by sheer accident on the food blog Zoom Yummy and knew it was going to be a winner with us both. Bacon and cheese? Who doesn't like those to ingredients? We were also having our first guests over for dinner on Saturday so I thought it would be nice to munch on before the main meal. 

Although white flour is a no-no, I didn't want to substitute whole wheat flour for it because the biscuits would be too dense. So to alleviate some form of the guilt I used organic butter and fresh home-made bacon from the farmer's market that's made without preservatives and sugar. Then I turned a blind eye to the mountain of cheese and white flour. It's all about balance right? A little naughtiness some times only makes the treats more enjoyable.

And voilà - the biscuits were amazingly tasty, tender and felt extremely decadent. It was like breakfast in a bite and the cheese really dictated the entire flavour. Sean and I wolfed down a couple as soon as they were out of the oven. I could have baked them till they were a bit more golden but I was afraid they would dry out. They reheated perfectly as well for our dinner guests in the evening who also enjoyed them thoroughly. So now the recipe is filed away, and will probably pop up again only after a couple of weeks of healthy eating. Yep, it's back to reality for us both.



Bacon and Cheese Biscuits 
Makes 36 biscuits


5oz (150g) bacon
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (I used paprika)
1/3 cup (75g) butter (I used organic butter)
1/2 pound (250g) sharper cheese ( I used a sharp cheddar)
1 cup (250ml) milk

1. To make your own Bacon and Cheese Biscuits, first preheat the oven to 390 °F (200 °C).
2. Then slice the bacon thinly.
3. In a large pan, fry the bacon over moderate heat until crisp. This will take a couple of minutes.
4. When beautifully crispy, remove the bacon from the pan and crumble it finely.
5. Grab the cheese and grate it.The cheese mostly will constitute the flavor of your biscuits. So choose the one you really like.
6. Now we need a large bowl. Using a pastry cutter (or just a fork), combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cayenne pepper and butter until crumbs form.
7. Stir in the grated cheese and the bacon.
8. Then add the milk…and stir together just until the dry ingredients are well moistened.
9. Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough 4 – 5 times. To make the biscuits perfectly soft, the trick is not to over-knead the dough.
10. Roll it out to about 1/2 inch (1 cm) thickness. When it gets sticky use some flour to make the job easier.
11. Cut out rounds using a 2-inch (5 cm) cutter. Pat the scraps together, re-roll them and cut out some more rounds.
12. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Arrange your biscuits on the sheet about 1/2 inch (2.5 cm) apart.
13. And bake them for about 15 minutes.