Butternut Squash Drop Biscuits with Bacon and Onions

I grow butternut squash in my garden and use it in a number of dishes.

One of my favorite uses for butternut squash is butternut squash soup. I like to add LOTS of goodies to my soup, such as bacon, onions and sour cream. Of course, if you have soup, you have to have biscuits, so I took all my favorite flavors from the soup and turned them into drop biscuits. This drop biscuit is wonderful not just with soup, but almost ANYTHING- poultry, steak, vegetables. Or all by itself. And although some steps take time, such as baking the butternut squash, this recipe is almost mistake proof. So bake several butternut squashes at the same time and freeze the extra for future batches of biscuits or any of your favorite butternut squash dishes!

The Inside Scoop

When both volumetric and weight measures are provided, the volumetric measures should be considered approximations. The standard measure for a cup of sugar is 192 grams. By volume, this measure will be less than 1 cup.

Butter needs to be very cold when making biscuits. Part of the biscuit’s rise is due to the steam that is generated as the butter melts. Freeze the butter before using. Then grate the frozen butter before adding it to the flour mix. If the grated butter is not used immediately, return it to the freezer or refrigerator.

Make ahead: You can grate the butter and store it in the freezer in a covered container to use when needed.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, garlic and chili powder in the bowl of a food processor; pulse for approximately four seconds until all dry ingredients are evenly distributed throughout the flour; this helps to ensure an even rise.

When making biscuits, the butter is added to the dry flour mix. This can be done in the bowl of a food processor by pulsing 3-4 times for 2 seconds each time. Or the butter and flour can be mixed in a large bowl using only one’s fingertips. Never mix with your hand- your fingertips are cooler whereas your hand is warmer and will cause the butter to melt. The goal is to rub the butter into the flour mix so that the butter is the size of small peas. This ensures a uniform rise as the butter melts and turns to steam during baking.

Fry the bacon until it is cooked but still soft. Much of the fat will render out while cooking. However, once the bacon is added to the biscuit dough, additional fat will cook out into the biscuit during baking, making the biscuit moist and flavorful and the bacon crisp. If the bacon is fried until crisp, it will become hard when added to the biscuit dough and baked.

Although biscuits can be made larger or smaller, I recommend making the biscuits about 2 ounces in size.

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Butternut Squash Drop Biscuits with Bacon and Onions

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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By Connie Teunis – Serves: 13

A drop biscuit that incorporates all the savory goodness of butternut squash, bacon and onions!

Ingredients

8 Strips of bacon, chopped into 1” pieces

2 c./240 gr. All-purpose flour

1 T. Baking Powder

½ t. Baking Soda

½ t. Salt

¼ t. Pepper

½ t. Rosemary

½ t. Thyme

¼ t. Garlic

Dash of Chili Powder

85 g./ 6 T. unsalted butter, grated

1/3 c. Full-Fat Buttermilk

100 g./ 6 T. Butternut squash, cooked, cooled and mashed*

150 g./ ½ large or 1 small onion, chopped finely.

2 Large Eggs, beaten

4 T. Rendered bacon fat or Olive Oil, divided.

Instructions

1

*At least 1 Day in Advance:

2

Prepare the butternut squash: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line one or more baking sheets (you can prepare several butternut squashes at this time to use in future recipes) with aluminum foil.

3

Cut a butternut squash in half lengthwise; remove the seeds. (Seeds can be cleaned and saved in the same manner as pumpkin seeds.) Place the butternut squash halves on the baking sheet, cut side down. Bake for 1 hour or until tender. The squash peel with be darkened and the squash will be very soft to the touch. Remove the squash from the oven and let sit until cool enough to handle.

4

Using a large spoon, scoop the cooked squash from the shell, place in a blender or food mill and puree until smooth. Place the squash puree in a jelly bag or several layers of cheesecloth and let the excess water drain out. This may take an hour or more. Measure out 100 grams/ 6 tablespoons of pureed squash. The rest can be placed in one or more freezer bags, sealed, labeled and frozen for future use.

5

To make the biscuits:

6

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

7

Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. Line a paper plate with 2 layers of paper towels.

8

Place the chopped bacon in a large frying pan. Fry the bacon until slightly crisp but still soft. Remove the bacon from the pan and place on the plate covered with paper towels. Pour the rendered bacon fat into a bowl. If necessary, add additional olive oil to make ¼ cup rendered fat; set aside. Wipe the frying pan with a wet paper towel to remove any stuck-on bits of bacon; let dry.

9

Return 2 tablespoons of the rendered bacon fat to the frying pan. Fry the chopped onions in the bacon fat or olive oil until clear but not browned. Let cool.

10

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, garlic and chili powder. Pulse for two to three seconds until thoroughly mixed.

11

Add the butter to the flour mixture and pulse two to three times for two seconds each until butter is the size of peas. Pour the flour/butter mixture into a large bowl. Make a well in the middle of the flour/butter mixture.

12

In a separate bowl, combine the buttermilk, butternut squash, onions, additional 2 tablespoons rendered bacon fat or olive oil and eggs. Beat thoroughly.

13

Pour the squash mixture into the flour mixture; stir gently to combine. Add the cooked bacon; mix.

14

Drop by spoonfuls onto parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake in 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of the biscuits. To test for doneness, use a cake tester, preferably a metal cake tester. Insert the cake tester into a biscuit. Biscuits are done when the cake tester comes out easily and cleanly. Once the tester comes out clean, remove the baking sheet from the oven and let sit on a heatproof surface for 10 minutes, then remove the biscuits from the baking sheet and place on cooling racks.

15

Enjoy warm or cool.

16

Makes 13 2 oz. biscuits.