Cacio e Pepe Biscuits

When I first moved to America, I found the use of the word biscuit incredibly frustrating. But when I realized how good these American “biscuits” can be I stopped complaining. Here a classic, buttery, tall biscuit is laced with salty cheese and black pepper. They’re best fresh out the oven, served with some eggs and maybe a rasher of bacon.

For 10 big biscuits:

Ingredients

225g butter

150g pecorino, plus more for topping

75g parmesan

600g all-purpose flour

25g sugar

8g black pepper, plus more for topping (about 1 heaped tablespoon)

3 tablespoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

255g heavy cream

255g buttermilk

1 egg, lightly beaten

Steps

Cut the butter into 1/2" cubes and chill in the freezer.

Grate the cheese and set aside.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, pepper, baking powder, and salt.

Add the butter to the dry ingredients. Using your hands, squish the butter between your fingers until it is flattened and broken up (it's okay to have some larger chunks, but the pieces should generally be about pea-size).

Add the grated cheese, cream, and buttermilk and mix until just combined. You should still be able to see streaks of butter in the dough.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Pat it out into a square which is 1 1/2" thick. Cut into 2 1/2" squares. You can re-roll it a couple of times if necessary.

You can now store the biscuits in the freezer until you want to eat them (they're best eaten the day made), or you can bake them straight away. Preheat the oven to 400F.

Brush the top of the biscuit with the lightly beaten egg. Grate some pecorino on top and add a pinch of black pepper. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, until golden on top and there are no melting butter pockets visible on the outside. Let cool for 15 minutes before diving in.