Mediterranean flavors envelope lite, crumbly, buttery biscuits. A great breakfast pick me up, or a mid day snack, either way delicious and vibrant in texture and flavor.
My love for biscuits and scones started years ago when I tasted my first scone at a local cafe. From then on it has been a journey of interesting sweet combinations, and diverse mix-ins, inspired by seasonal fruits, vegetables, and cultural experiences. Although the sweet scone always gets my attention, once in a while I have a craving for something savory. Having been to the Mediterranean many times has inspired me to make biscuits to exemplify that experience. There are certain ingredients that stayed with me, one being a good goat feta I usually had for breakfast in Mykonos, Greece, and another in Italy some great sweet tomatoes, sun-dried to that right texture and taste, then preserved with a great extra virgin olive oil. These are some of the ingredients that will entice you to make today's recipe Mediterranean Biscuits.
I have learned over time that making perfect biscuits is all in the making of the dough. I don't really like biscuits that are too spongy or cake like. My preference is to have great flavors and a nice crumbly not dry texture with the dichotomy of some fresh and cheesy ingredients, things like scallions, farm fresh free range chicken eggs, and buttermilk. I remember when I was young and our family would go to a farm and do some work and also play. It was a Ukrainian family that ran this farm and we were always blessed with a meal at the end of the day. This was truly a blessing to taste fresh chicken, I mean fresh, along with eggs and farm fresh cream and buttermilk, truly a food experience that lingers so happily with me to this day. The cheese factor coming from a nice pungent goat feta and an aged Asiago brought back by Nicoletta on her last trip back home to Rome, thanks to the Gods for these trips. The flavor enhancer, some great sweet and acidic sun-dried tomatoes I picked up at The Italian Center, little Italy, Edmonton. I like the ones that are packed in olive oil as I like to use the oil in some other recipes I have done and I also put some in this biscuit recipe.
Let's get these biscuits started.
I think the mixing of the ingredients is the most important part of this recipe for Mediterranean biscuits. Making sure to use cold cold butter or in this case we used a vegetable shortening straight out of the fridge. The first step to combine the shortening with the dry ingredients mixing it to get a pebble-like texture and the shortening broken into little pieces coated nicely with the flour. I don't play with it too much as this would melt the shortening and create a more moist spongy like consistency. Next, I blend in the feta and Asiago, along with the scallions, basil, and sun-dried tomatoes, allowing the flour mixture to coat these ingredients. The third step adding the blended wet ingredients, eggs, buttermilk and folding them a bit, then on to a work surface for a gentle kneed, then flattened to a nice thickness. Now they are ready to be cut. Usually, I like to keep things rustic but today I am inspired by my wife and we are going to make these biscuits round with a cookie cutter.
I brushed the tops with an extra virgin olive oil which gave these biscuits a nice golden crust, crispy and chewy good. The aroma in the house is heavenly. The smell of roasted scallions and that baked buttery scent roaming through the air. I take them out of the oven and I am not going to wait for them to cool. I love when these wonderful biscuits are still hot and you crack them open, steam rises and that smell, yum. The taste of the feta and Asiago, blended with this lite textured dough. The scallions sweet and fresh and that candy-like taste of those morsels of sun-dried tomato melt in your mouth good. Then when you think it's over you get a taste of that crispy cheese that has melted on the bottom and edges, do I have to say more, lol. I am thinking these would make the best breakfast sandwiches with egg, tomato, a nice piece of thick cut baked bacon, a Dijon mayo, isn't creativity a great and delicious thing. I seemed to think so and so does my appetite as I keep munching on these wonderfully composed Mediterranean Biscuits.
From our kitchen at Sugarlovespices to yours, Happy Breakfast!
Song of the Day: "In your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel.
P.S. We get to see Peter Gabriel and Sting this summer, so excited about that, it's going to be so good.
PrintMediterranean Biscuits
Mediterranean flavors envelope lite, crumbly, buttery biscuits. A great breakfast pick me up, or a mid-day snack, either way, delicious and vibrant in texture and flavor.
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 10 biscuits 1x
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening or butter
- 1 ½ table spoons scallions chopped
- ½ tablespoon fresh basil chopped
- ½ cup goat feta crumbled
- ¼ cup aged asiago shredded
- 3 tablespoons sun dried tomatoes
- 1 egg
- ¾ cups buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon oil from sun dried tomatoes
- olive oil for topping
- Coarse sea salt
Instructions
- Sift flour salt, sugar, and baking powder into a bowl.
- Add in shaved cold butter or shortening and blend till it looks like little pebbles.
- Add in scallions, basil, sun dried tomato and blend.
- Crumble in feta cheese.
- Sprinkle in grated asiago and mix.
- Blend egg, buttermilk and sun dried tomato oil in a separate bowl.
- Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and with a wood spoon mix gently until flour is somewhat incorporated.
- Dust a wood working surface with some flour and pour biscuits mixture onto surface.
- With hands gently knead the dough till the flour is worked in.
- Pre-heat oven to 400° F.
- Press dough gently to a thickness of one inch.
- With a 3 inch cookie cutter, cut out biscuits and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
- Brush top of biscuits with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
- Place biscuits in oven and bake for 20 minutes or until they turn a nice golden brown color.
- Take out of oven and place biscuits on a cooling rack.
- Ready to serve.
- Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Breakfast, Brunch
- Method: Baking
Disclosure: All links in our posts are NOT affiliate links. They are only about products or places we normally purchase and like.
When I am not cooking, I enjoy playing musical instruments, singing, writing. I have learned over the years to live in gratitude and enjoy the moment.
Adina says
Great looking biscuits! I love sun-dried tomatoes from Italy too, I even saw how they are dried in the sun, somewhere in Sicily... Memories! I love the picture of you and Nicoletta on the sidebar! 🙂
Thanks Adina, yes Italy ahhhhhhh.... memories so pleasant and happy, and yes the natural sun drying process amazing isn't it. Have yourself a most blessed weekend!
Loreto
MDIVADOMESTICA says
Love the balance of the simplicity and the complexities of these types of recipes. Simple ingredients combined just right to give the crispness of the outside while break apart goodness inside.
Such kind comments, thank you from the bottom of my heart! Have a wonderful weekend.
Loreto
Dana says
Ah, these are so gorgeous! Gosh I wish you guys lived close by - that would be a dream potluck if I ever did see one. Haha. Honestly, I've already filled my FBC blog comment Friday duties, but I love to stop by here when I can to say hello. I love everything you put out. It's always so wonderful.
Hi Dana, can you imagine a potluck with all these amazing food bloggers, blows my mind just to think of it. If you were close by we would surely share with you. That's what this is all about enjoying and sharing great food with great people. Thank you so much for your comment, have a great weekend!
Loreto
Redawna says
I love a good biscuit recipe! These look fantastic!
I would not be able to let them cool before trying either, and the breakfast sandwich sounds like the perfect way to use any leftovers.
Have a spectacular weekend everyone.
Thank you Redawna, tough to hold back when biscuits are straight out of the oven and you smell the melted feta and Asiago combined with the scallions, and yes we enjoyed the breakfast sandwich immensely. Have a great weekend, along weekend for us here in Canada.
Loreto
Carrie says
Love, love, love homemade biscuits!!! These look absolutely fantastic and I am definitely going to try making them!
Hi Carrie thank you! You will see how easy these are to make and easier to eat, lol. Have fun!
Loreto
Demeter | Beaming Baker says
Wow, working (and playing, of course) all day on a farm, then having a wonderful, home-cooked meal to greet you... that just sounds wonderful. 🙂 In the meantime, I can happy sigh over your memories and drool over these gorgeous mediterranean biscuits. I completely agree with you on the texture needing to be crumbly, but not dry. Love that you used sundried tomatoes and basil. 🙂 Pinning! Have a great weekend, you two. 🙂
Demeter you always have such lovely things to say and we are so grateful for your presence. Yes those memories are fond ones and ones that I cherish greatly. The sun dried tomatoes and basil added that oh so good intensity to these wonderful biscuits, would have loved to share some with our fellow bloggers and especially you. Have a wonderful weekend too. Cheers!
Julia says
I only ever make sweet biscuits (don't know why), but these Mediterranean ones look wonderful. I love every single ingredient and I bet they tasted fantastic. You just can't beat great ingredients!
Hi Julia, yes so true great ingredients make for wonderful tasting recipes, and yes they tasted so good and lite, crumbly and that cheese, gotta have another one. This morning we made a breakfast sandwich with one and it was fantastic. Thank you for your comment and have a great day.
Loreto
Kathy @ Beyond the Chicken Coop says
I love biscuits and scones too. This savory biscuit looks delicious!
Hi Kathy, thank you for the comment, the biscuit was so tasty, the flavors, the melted cheese, and the herbs. There will be many more of these savory recipes to come, so stay tuned.
Happy cooking!
Loreto
annie@ciaochowbambina says
Oh my! I'm with you, I tend to gravitate toward sweeter scones, especially with my tea, but every once in a while - only savory will do! I adore the flavor combination you have going on here...and the thought of the cheese crisping up on the top and bottom edges? Well, forget about it! That alone - would have me going back for seconds...maybe even thirds... 😉 Thank you for sharing a beautiful recipe and lovely story.
Hi Annie what a great comment, thank you so much for that. Yes totally a weakness of mine melted crispy cheese. On Saturday we went to the market and bought some saganaki cheese came home, fried it up in the pan with some olive oil and lemon. Wow it was so good, gotta love those Greek recipes. This one will be coming soon on our blog. Easy Breezy and beautifully delicious.
Have a wonderful day!
Loreto
karrie @ Tasty Ever After says
Biscuits are my thing. I like them sweet and I like them savoy and I'm especially liking yours. Mediterranean flavors are my favorite and it's brilliant to put them in a lovely flaky biscuit 🙂 And you are right that it would make a delicious breakfast sandwich. Have fun at your concert this summer and wish I was going! 😉
Hi Karrie, we tried the breakfast sandwich and it was delicious, our hands were drenched in the yolk spilling over from the sandwich. Was definitely a messy affair but finger licking good. Yes really looking forward to that concert, two of my all time favorite artists.
Have a greaat week talk soon!
Loreto
Barbara says
Hi, I see the butter/shortening on your ingredient list, but I don't see it in the steps of the recipe. If I'm just missing it, I'm so sorry!! These look wonderful, I can't wait for an occasion to try them.
Thank you Barbara, I adjusted the steps, all is good. It goes to show I am still human, lol.These biscuits were so tasty I loved them even for breakfast. Thank you for your comment and no need to apologize, I am grateful you spotted it so I could fix it.
Have a great day.
Cheers!
Loreto
Michele says
These hit the spot! I made these for a Sunday Brunch and they were a huge hit!
We're so happy that they were a hit. It makes our work worth the while. Thanks for the note, and happy cooking!