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.
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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.
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.
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.
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
Sweet Potato Soup With Red Lentils & Hemp Hearts
Cauliflower, Sweet Potato & Chickpea Curry
Roasted Tomato Soup With Sunflower Cream
Recipe
Easy Cheese Tea Biscuits
This easy cheese tea biscuits recipe is great to keep in your back pocket in case company pops in, or you want a quick snack with tea.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (300 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon (8 g) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon (8 g) salt
- ¼ cup (57 g) butter, room temperature
- 1-½ cups (170 g) grated cheddar cheese
- 1 cup (250 ml) whole milk, plus 1 tablespoon for brushing the biscuits
Instructions
- 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. 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 to 450ºF (230ºC). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and have a 2-½ inch (6-mm) 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.
- 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 to a thickness of 1-inch (2-½ mm) 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.
- Place the biscuits on the prepared baking sheet and brush the top of each with milk. Bake the biscuits for 15 to 17 minutes, or until golden. Remove them from the oven and let the pan cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before serving.
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.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 95Total Fat: 1gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 3mgSodium: 26mgCarbohydrates: 17gFiber: 1gSugar: 0gProtein: 3g
This is an approximation of the nutrition offered in this recipe, and is created using a nutrition calculator.
Maxine says
Delicious! I added 2 tablespoons sugar! Maxine
Polly says
yep, definitely needed the sugar. Its in the nutritional info but not the recipe…………………….
Kelly Neil says
Hey Polly! I’m glad you liked the recipe, and now I will have to try them myself with a bit of sugar. The sugar listed in the nutritional info is actually naturally occurring sugars from the milk and cheese. Thanks for stopping by! :)
Shirley A Hockin says
HI, Thanks for this recipe, which I am trying tonight with some caribou stew. I couldn’t help but notice that a couple of your metric measurements should be in cm, not mm (1-inch thickness of the dough would be 2.5 cm and a 2.5-inch biscuit cutter would be 6 cm).
Cheers,
Shirley
Alexandra Daum says
What a strange mistake to make, thanks so much for letting us know, Shirley! Hope you enjoyed the biscuits.
Jennifer Blomqvist says
These turned out perfectly! I added some fresh jalapeño (about half a pepper, finely chopped), since I just happened to have it. Great recipe, thank you!
Alexandra Daum says
Sounds delicious, thanks Jennifer!
Heather says
I keep butter in the freezer. Grate the frozen butter with a grater to make this process super easy.
Donna says
OMG!!!! I Just made these… they are absolutely delicious!… i forgot to brush the tops with milk before I baked them… but they still turned out FABULOUS!!!!!! This is my go to cheese biscuit recipe!!!!! thank you!
Althea Delwiche says
These are great. My only negative note is that they felt *really* buttery. Would it be possible to cut the amount of butter by 1/3 or even 1/2?
Kelly Neil says
Hey Althea — You could certainly try but we haven’t tested this and can’t guarantee the results. Thanks!
Jule says
A little disappointed by the measurements… I followed it to a T then came the 1 cup of milk part and it’s not doughy at all. It’s a bit thicker than pancake mixture would be. Changing the 1 cup of milk thing to maybe half or less would be nice.
Jule says
Just finished trying to save this dough by adding 42 pounds of flour… looks terrible, smells terrible, is in the oven awaiting results that will also be terrible. The reason people come to recipes like this is because they aren’t pastry chefs or any kind of cook at all, it’s supposed to be helpful. Post accurate measurements next time. 0/10
Alexandra Daum says
Hi Jule, clearly something went really wrong on your end here, but without more information we won’t be able to pinpoint the issue. This is one of our most popular recipes, with thousands of people visiting each month, and we’ve never heard from any readers that they’ve had problems. It’s also a very carefully tested recipe that’s been passed down in Kelly’s family and she makes it about once a week (without having to add an additional 42 pounds of flour). If you could walk us through exactly what you did, we could try to figure out what the problem was – but it certainly doesn’t sound like you followed the recipe to a T as described. Maybe the recipe video would be helpful to you. Have a nice day!