I stumbled across this technique of laminating herbs onto biscuits and just had to try it for myself! Not only are these biscuits almost too beautiful to eat, dressing them up gives them so much potential; from elevating your bread basket at a holiday meal, to an impressive soup companion, or even adding elegance to some mini versions served at a baby shower or bridal shower, these are sure to delight! Eager to try out this technique, I grabbed my go-to biscuit recipe, harvested some herbs from my Rise Garden, and tested it out.
To prepare the herbs, you’ll need a pot of boiling water, an ice bath, and paper towel.
Place the herbs into a small strainer and dip this into the boiling water for 5-10 seconds. The more delicate the herb leaf, the less time they need in the boiling water. After you have blanched the herbs, immediately plunge them into ice water to retain the herb color and stop them from cooking further.
Remove the herbs from the ice bath and place onto a paper towel. Add an additional sheet of paper towel on top and place a heavy pan or dish on top of the paper towel and allow the herbs to dry and flatten for at least 5 minutes.
While the herbs are drying, the biscuits can be prepared using the recipe below.
Ingredients
- 2 cups of flour
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup cold butter, cut into tablespoons
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
Directions
- Step One: Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. With a pastry blender or fork, cut in the butter until a medium crumble is formed.
- Step Two: Add buttermilk and mix until incorporated. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a rectangle (approx. 9x6 inches). Cut the rectangle into thirds, stack, and roll into a 9x6 inch rectangle again.
- Step Three: Using a biscuit cutter (or any other circular shaped cutter), dipped in flour, cut the biscuits and place on a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet. The scraps can be re-layered to form the last few biscuits, taking care not to overwork the dough or melt the butter with your hands.
-
Step Four: Before applying the herbs, lightly brush the tops of the biscuits with a beaten egg. Arrange the herbs on top of the biscuits, keeping them flat. Brush the tops of the biscuits again with the beaten egg to laminate the herbs in place.
-
Step Five: Bake at 450F for 10-12 minutes, or until gold brown on both the top and bottom.
Now that I’ve made these biscuits and seen how quick and easy it is to add these herby decorations, I’m sure there will be many more batches of these in my future! And I wonder what else I can use this technique on? Happy baking!
