Ricotta Biscuits - Cozy Cravings

Overhead image of finished ricotta biscuits in a pile.

Ingredients

1 ½ cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 stick unsalted butter cubed
¾ cup whole milk / full fat ricotta cheese
2 teaspoon honey
1 large egg
1 teaspoon water

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 425°F.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Into the same mixing bowl with the dry mixture, add the butter pieces. Using your fingers or a pastry cutter, crumble the butter in with the flour until it’s the size of coarse sand.
Add the ricotta and honey to the center of the flour mixture and combine with a wood spoon until a shaggy dough forms.
Carefully dump the shaggy dough mixture onto a lightly floured surface. Using your hands work it together into a thick rectangle. Push the dough down with the palms of your hands until it’s 1 inch thick, then fold it on top of itself twice to form a square. Repeat this 2 more times (so you will have done the folding step 3 times).
After your last fold and the biscuit dough is in a square, push it down one last time to be one inch thick. Using a bench scraper or sharp knife cut 6 individual biscuits. Transfer the 6 biscuits to a parchment paper lined rimmed baking sheet and arrange them in a single layer. Brush with egg wash (whisk together the 1 egg and a dash of water).
Bake them at 425°F for 20-25 minutes until nice and golden on top. Let them cool for a bit on the sheet pan and then dig in.

Notes

Keep the butter in the fridge until you use it - you want it to stay cold for as long as possible.
To work the butter into the flour using your hands use a pinching motion by pinching together pieces of butter with flour. This will break the butter into smaller pieces covered in flour and eventually will resemble very coarse sand.
You can use a rolling pin to make the biscuits but you run the risk of over working the dough this way.
When you cut the biscuits, use an up and down motion, do not pull the cutting utensil through the dough left-to-right as this would “seal” the edges and the folding would be for naught and the biscuits won’t rise as high. Or if you're using a biscuit cutter, do not twist.
Use a small baking sheet when baking the biscuits. Unlike traditional roasting, it’s ideal if the biscuits are touching when they bake as the residual heat between them helps them rise.
Try to not overwork the dough with your hands too much for two reasons:
- The heat from your hands will start to melt the butter, and if this melts before they get in the oven the biscuits won’t have the same flaky texture that is created by the pockets of butter melting.
  - If you think your dough has gotten a little too hot, put it in the fridge for 15-20 minutes before baking.
- Overworked dough results in a tougher, less tender biscuit
If your ricotta cheese is extra liquidy, put it in a cheese cloth and let a little bit of that excess liquid drain. We want some liquid, but we don’t want it to be fully wet.

Nutrition Estimate

Course: Bread, Breakfast, Brunch

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Biscuit, Bread, Ricotta

Author: Haley