Tomato & Cheddar Biscuits

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At the beginning of the summer, my husband and I took a day trip to Sequim.  It’s a cute little town on the west side of the state, about a 2-hour drive from us (a beautiful forest-filled drive at that!).  While we were there we checked out the shops in the main part of town.  One of them was a spice shop, so of course we had to go in!  This shop had all kinds of unique spices and herbs, one of which was tomato powder.  I’d never seen it before!  I took a whiff and it reminded me of Spaghetti-Os, that sweet and concentrated amazing tomato smell!  Obviously I had to get some.  I was already brainstorming ways to use it as we left the store.

The first idea that came to mind was a biscuit.  Then I remembered that tomato and cheddar go wonderfully together (tomato soup and grilled cheese I’m looking at you).  After several attempts, I came up with a version that I’m really happy with. 🙂

First things first- preheat the oven.  Make sure the rack is in the center of the oven.

Now you’ll slice the tomatoes.  It may seem strange to do this first, but this is so we can get rid of some of their moisture.  Slice the tomatoes fairly thin.  If you are using smaller tomatoes, I recommend cutting the slices off the center part of the tomato to get larger rounds.  Cut at least 10 slices, so you can pick the best looking ones later.  Now put some paper towels on a plate and put the tomatoes on top.  Then sprinkle the tomatoes with salt.  This will help them release some of their juices.

Now onto the actual biscuit dough. Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and tomato powder in a bowl.  Then you’ll cut the butter in with a pastry cutter, fork or your hands. Make sure your butter is really cold- that’s what will make your biscuits flakey. Mix in the butter until all the bits of it are the size of a pea or smaller.

Now add the cheese.  I like the sharp cheddar because it pairs with the sweetness of the tomato powder really well.  If you have medium cheddar, that’s good too.

Mix in the buttermilk and then knead the dough a little with your hands against the side of the bowl until it starts to come together.

Now plop the dough on a floured surface.  Pat it out to an inch thick.  Cut the dough into 2-inch rounds using a biscuit cutter or glass.  You may have to re-roll the dough a couple of times to get them all. Put them all on a parchment-lined cooking sheet.

Now back to the tomatoes.  Lightly dab the tomatoes with another paper towel to remove any moisture that’s appeared.  Then brush a little bit of olive oil onto each biscuit. This will be the “glue” for the tomato slices.  Put a tomato slice on each biscuit and lightly brush the tomato and top of the biscuit with olive oil.  Then sprinkle with salt.

 

Bake the biscuits in the oven for 18-20 minutes, or until they are golden and no longer doughy in the center. They will also have a pretty salmon hue from the tomato powder.

Serve them warm and plain, or with butter.  We’ve discovered these babies also make great vehicles for breakfast sandwiches with a fried egg and a few slices of bacon.  I have a sneaking suspicion they would also make an amazing BLT.

This recipe will make about 8 biscuits.

My little bag of tomato powder is almost gone, but I was excited to see it is readily available online.  Although I may just use this as an excuse for another drive to Sequim. You better believe I’ll be getting more to make these biscuits again at the very least!

Have you used tomato powder before?  I’d love to hear how other people use it!