Chili, Cheese and Tomato-Pesto Biscuits

Friday morning before I left for work I asked MM to go through A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman and find something scrumptious to make for breakfast Saturday morning. When I returned home from work he had page 98 marked and what a good choice it turned out to be.

"I chose something a little different for us to make tomorrow morning," he said to me Friday afternoon, and different it was indeed. When it comes to breakfast baked goods I almost always go for something sweet, so these were a little out of my comfort zone... I mean, this is swEEts by e!? I'm not going to lie, I was a little hesitant when I started reading through the ingredients. I couldn't help but think there was just too much going on, but I was absolutely proved wrong.

Mountain Mans choice of Chili, Cheese and Tomato-Pesto Biscuits? Delicious, yes. Sweet, no.

A perfect companion for some scrambled eggs and bacon, these biscuits are sure to please on a warm spring morning when you're in the mood for something savory and a little different than your average pancake or muffin. A word of warning though, the prep for these bad boys is a little time consuming.  There are a lot of veggies and herbs that go into the dough which require a lot of chopping and measuring... a perfect opportunity to make use a sous chef ;)

Chili, Cheese and Tomato-Pesto Biscuits
Adapted from A Passion for Baking
Oven temp: 425 Bake Time: 18-20 minutes
Makes about 12 biscuits

2 cups AP flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 TBS sugar
1 tsp salt
1 TBS dry mustard
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp black pepper (basically a sprinkle)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes
about 3/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/4 cup finely chopped green onion
3 TBS finely chopped cilantro
1/2 cup canned corn (drained)
2 cups shredded cheddar and jack cheese combo
2 TBS minced canned green chilis
3 TBS sun-dried tomato pesto*

Preheat oven to 425.
Stack 2 baking sheets together and line top with parchment paper.
In food processor, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, mustard, baking powder, soda and pepper. Pulse a few times to mix.

Add butter cubes and pulse until grainy consistency is made. Transfer mixture into a large bowl.

Pour a little more than half the buttermilk to mixture, add egg and mix lightly with a fork.
Add all your veggies and drop in bits of pesto. *We couldn't find tomato-pesto so we made our own by mixing 6 sun-dried tomato halves and 2 spoonfuls of pesto in the food processor.

Use your hands to mix together into a soft dough. Add more buttermilk if necessary.

Turn out dough on lightly floured surface and roll out until it is about 1 inch thick. Using a round cookie cutter, cut into circles and transfer to prepared baking sheets.

Place in oven and reduce temp to 400. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Happy Baking!