Olivia Piepmeier

Spicy Biscuits

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Wednesday, July 13, 2022
Categories: bread breakfast side
A watercolor illustration of a spicy biscuit. It has little flecks of green in it and browning on top. There are little black circles on top to represent the sesame seeds. 'Spicy biscuits' is written to the right.

inspired by Mother in Law's

Ingredients

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 4 tablespoon unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
  • 2 tablespoon gochujang (I use Mother in Law’s extra spicy. Whatever brand, just be sure you’re using a paste and not a sauce. I bet a sauce would taste good but it would likely alter the consistency)
  • 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil (I’m sure untoasted sesame oil would be fine, but toasted is what I keep on hand)
  • 1 tablespoon sesame seeds (toasted is suggested but I’ve been too lazy to do that and I assume the toasted-ness from the oil makes up for it?)
  • 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
  • whole bunch of green onions or chives, chopped
  • ¾ cup (maybe more) heavy cream (coconut cream is suggested as an alternative, I haven’t tried it but it sounds good!)
  • 1 egg, for brushing

Directions

  1. Get out a large bowl and whisk/mix the flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar.
  2. Add butter, gochujang, and sesame oil into the dry mixture. I try to use a pastry cutter since, if I used my hands, they would become red and spicy.
  3. Fold in the sesame seeds, cheese, and green onion/chives with a spatula or something.
  4. Add cream to bring it all together. It just needs to be holding together, so you may need to add more cream to get it there.
  5. Transfer it onto a parchment paper on the counter and pat it down to a square that’s about 3/4” thick.
  6. Fold it up in the paper and pop it in the fridge for an hour. I’d avoid letting it linger longer as the baking soda needs to be potent.
  7. Preheat oven to 400F.
  8. Place the parchment square on a cookie sheet and cut up your biscuits. Make them as small or large as you like, just know you’ll need to use your judgment to not get under done. Last time I made these, I made 9.
  9. However many you do, give them an inch between each.
  10. Whisk an egg in a small bowl and brush the biscuits with it.
  11. Sprinkle some sesame seeds for a nice visual.
  12. Bake. Start checking them around 20 minutes - you want them to be golden brown.

Thoughts

I’m now one of those assholes that want all my ingredients to be by weight, however, I’m not opinionated enough about it to actually convert the recipes I love that weren’t written that way. So, all this is to say sorry this isn’t listed by weight. Trust me in that it’s delicious and worth the slight uncertainty that comes with not baking by weight.

I think the first time I tried gochujang was on a burger at dNB Burgers (now known as dNB Craft Kitchen - highly recommended pricey burgers if you’re in the New Bedford, MA area). The second was on a Korean Air flight in what’s easily the best airline meal I’ve had (a bibimbap bowl - usually offered as a meal choice on the first meal of one of their very long flights). For some reason, when the pandemic started and the reality of needing to have a versatile pantry was evident, I decided I needed some. Mother in Law’s is the brand Thrive had at the time so it’s what I got. MIL is a small business owned by a woman of color, so I’m glad to give them my money a few times a year. Thrive no longer carries the paste, but ordering from the company’s website requires you to get at least 4 jars at a time, and that’s usually enough for me for a few months (and it gives me a chance to get their kimchi! <3).

Anyway, I’ve found gochujang to be an irreplaceable ingredient. This is a fun use of it - these are lovely moist biscuits with a surprising savory zing only gochujang can provide. The recipe was originally written as these being “scones” but, uh, these are biscuits. Sorry to those with stronger opinions about what constitutes a biscuit. As a southerner raised in a household that relied solely on biscuits from a can or bag in the freezer aisle, these satisfy a craving for something not often found up here in the north. It’s so strange to be out somewhere and needing a breakfast sandwich only to find…not biscuits as the bread of choice for them. Imagine expecting a biscuit and getting an english muffin. Yikes.