Easy Cheese Tea Biscuits

This recipe for easy cheese tea biscuits is great to keep in your back pocket in case company pops in, or you want a quick snack with tea.

This easy cheese tea biscuits recipe belongs to Elodie Gallien, the grandmother of our Halifax-based team member, Kelly Neil. Tea biscuits are a kitchen staple in the Maritimes, and are, for many East Coasters, a nostalgic reminder of family. Most Maritimers can picture themselves gathered with family at the table, a plate of fresh tea biscuits between them.

On the East Coast (generally speaking), tea biscuits are baked plain, and served warm and buttered, with a drizzle of molasses. Cheese adds a savoury note here, making these a great side for most meals. Serve easy cheese tea biscuits alongside soup for lunch, stew for supper, or on a platter at the table for holiday meals. Versatile and simple, you just can’t beat a good tea biscuit recipe.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Method
• Tips & Notes
• Substitutions
• Recipe

Use the JUMP TO RECIPE button at the top, or scroll to the bottom of the post to see the printable recipe card with full ingredient measurements and complete instructions.

Ingredients

Method

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl. Add the butter and use a pastry blender or fork to combine it with the flour until the mixture is coarse and sandy.

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Use your fingers to rub in any remaining larger lumps of butter. Place the bowl of flour in the freezer for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and have a round biscuit cutter ready.

Remove the flour mixture from the freezer and add the grated cheese. Stir everything together with a fork to combine.

Use the fork to make a well in the middle of the flour-cheese mixture.

Pour in the milk. Stir everything together with the fork until no dry bits of flour remain on the bottom of the bowl.

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Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface. Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough.

Working quickly so the butter doesn’t warm up, pat the dough out with your hands. Add a little more flour if the dough is sticking.

Cut the dough into as many round biscuits as you can (probably about seven).

Gather the leftover scraps and quickly pat the dough out again. Cut more biscuits. Repeat this process until all of the dough is gone. Depending on how thick you’ve patted the dough, you should end up with 10 to 12 biscuits.

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Place the biscuits on the prepared baking sheet and brush the top of each with milk.

Bake the biscuits until golden. Remove them from the oven and let the pan cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before serving.

Tips & Notes

Do not use pre-shredded cheese. Bagged, shredded cheese generally has a light coating of cornstarch to prevent it clumping and sticking together in the bag. It doesn’t melt as well as cheese you grate by hand yourself.

Keep the milk and grated cheese cold in the fridge until you need it.

You can make the dough in a stand mixer if you want.

Freezing room temperature butter mixed with flour is an easy method, and yields a tender flaky biscuit. If you don’t have time, make this recipe the traditional way with cold or frozen grated butter.

You can use a rolling pin for the dough if you don’t want to pat it out with your hands.

A good way to get 12 perfectly-sized biscuits is to pat or roll the dough into a rectangle shape and slice it with a knife into 12 even portions.

Store tea biscuits in a zip-top bag on the counter for up to three days.

Easy cheese tea biscuits freeze well. Place them in a large, zip-top bag, squeeze out any excess air, and store in the freezer for up to one month. To serve, remove from the bag and gently defrost in the microwave until warm, or let sit at room temperature until thawed.

Substitutions

You can substitute whole wheat or light spelt flour for all-purpose, however, you may need to add a bit more milk.

Use any hard grating cheese you like in this recipe. Aged or sharp cheeses taste the best.

Buttermilk is a terrific substitution for milk.

Serve Easy Cheese Tea Biscuits With These Meals

Puff Pastry Turkey Pot Pie

Sweet Potato Soup With Red Lentils & Hemp Hearts

Dutch Oven Beef Stew

Cauliflower, Sweet Potato & Chickpea Curry

Roasted Tomato Soup With Sunflower Cream

Recipe