BEYOND-EASY HERBY YOGURT BISCUITS

The yummiest, no-skills required holiday biscuit from Jessie Sheehan's new savory baking book, Salty Cheesy Snackable Bakes

Jessie Sheehan

and

Sarah Copeland

Nov 20, 2024

Even if you’ve never made biscuits, I promise—you can make these!

Hello!

Somewhere before (I can’t remember where), I wrote about the first time I made Thanksgiving dinner, top to tail, for my family—less than a year out of culinary school. There were copious amounts of butter, luscious cream, a ricer (no lumps in my mashed potatoes, thank you!), silky gravy, a brined turkey, and pies that could break your heart.

At the end of the meal, everyone in my family said, “That was the best Thanksgiving we’ve ever had. Next year, let’s go back to the Classic.”

The Classic is my Mom’s (+ Dad’s!) Thanksgiving—buttery mashed potatoes, a salt-and-pepper turkey and gravy, raw cranberry relish and sweet potatoes with those tiny marshmallows, a relish tray, and sage stuffing—plenty of heartwarming Betty Crocker mid-century classics. My version was delicious but too fussy—like restaurant food, but on the one day of the year everyone just wanted a little comfort.

I’ve simmered way down since then. (To wit: Check out my low-key, easier-than-ever Thanksgiving menu—full of fast yet surprising vegetable dishes that don’t take up oven (or brain!) space.

But one Thanksgiving category still deserves a little love: THE BREAD BASKET. Why? While any old dinner roll will technically do, bringing or baking a star for the bread basket—a pillowy soft dinner roll or a tender, herby biscuit—is a little gift that won’t be ignored.

Biscuits, especially, are low-effort, high-reward foods. Today, we’re turning to my friend and baking guru,

Jessie Sheehan

. Jessie knows baking. She hosts She’s My Cherry Pie on Cherry Bombe Radio and has authored several baking books, including Snackable Bakes: 100 Easy-Peasy Recipes for Exceptionally Scrumptious Sweets and Treats and The Vintage Baker. She contributes to the Washington Post, Food Network, Food52, and more.

Jessie’s new book, Salty, Cheesy, Herby, Crispy Snackable Bakes: 100 Easy-Peasy, Savory Recipes for 24/7 Deliciousness, has a whole chapter on savory biscuits and scones. One of them, a herby yogurt biscuit, caught my eye for its simplicity. Jessie writes:

Jessie and I are kindred spirits in this. (You’ll find melted butter in my Chocolate Chip Cookies for Modern Times, my best Brown-Butter Blondies, and my Pumpkin-Chocolate-Chip Cookies, to name a few.) Melted butter in baking ROCKS. It saves you time, and melted-butter baked goods often hold their shape better, so there are fewer surprises when they come out of the oven.

But a melted butter biscuit? Sacrilege! The whole point of biscuits is blending the butter and flour to create fat-coated flour that yields pockets of air to create layers when baked (see this article from my culinary school for the science behind laminated doughs, biscuits, and pies—and how the fat makes them fluffy). I was skeptical, but Jessie said, “The yogurt here adds wonderful tang and tenderness, resulting in a biscuit that splits easily.”

Those who know me know I’ll put yogurt in anything (see: Oatmeal Yogurt Pancakes, My Gluten-Free, Almond-and-Chocolate Banana Bread). It’s fast and adds easy flavor, and I always have plain full-fat yogurt on hand, unlike buttermilk or sour cream—other tangy dairy options one might bake with for tenderness and flavor.

Folks, we baked Jessie’s melted butter biscuits this week and LOVE them. These passed my test for Thanksgiving (+ Christmas!) for three reasons:

Herby: give me all the sage, thyme, and rosemary on the same table. Delicious!
Fast: The melted butter makes these a cinch. No joke.
Sharable: They are easy to serve, pass, pack, bring, bake ahead, and prep ahead (you know what they say: work smart, not hard!)

The recipe is below. Give these a shot; you won’t regret it. I’ll return for my paid subscribers at the end of the week with a second offering from Jessie for your holiday table.

Sarah

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HERBY YOGURT BISCUITS

Excerpted with permission from Salty Cheesy Herby Crispy Snackable Bakes by Jessie Sheehan.

After wistfully dreaming about a world in which one could make biscuits from melted butter, my bestie, the internet, confirmed that melted butter biscuits is, in fact, a thing. And being a melted butter baker from way back, I went to work. The yogurt here adds wonderful tang and tenderness (thanks, Serious Eats, for the inspo), resulting in a biscuit that splits easily. A combo of woody and soft herbs works best here.

MAKES 9 BISCUITS

For the dough

2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more for sprinkling

1 cup (130 grams) cake flour

1½ tablespoons granulated sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

¼ cup finely chopped mixed fresh herbs, such as thyme and dill, plus 9 dill sprigs for decorating the biscuit tops

1 cup full-fat yogurt (regular, not Greek)

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

1 large egg (egg wash)

Softened salted butter for serving

Heat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Whisk together the all-purpose flour, cake flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt, and chopped herbs in a large bowl. In a 4-cup measuring cup or medium bowl, whisk together the yogurt and melted butter (don’t worry if the butter solidifies a little while you do this). Pour the yogurt mixture into the flour mixture and stir with a flexible spatula until no loose flour remains.
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and sprinkle just a bit of flour on top. Pat out the dough into a 6-inch square, about 1½ inches tall. Using a bench scraper or a chef’s knife, cut the dough into nine square biscuits and evenly space them on the prepared baking sheet. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and the remaining ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt. Brush each biscuit with this egg wash and decorate its top with a dill sprig.
Bake until the tops and bottoms of the biscuits are nicely browned, 17 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before placing the biscuits on a serving plate. Enjoy with loads of softened salted butter.