Parm Basil biscuits: The perfect accompaniment to Winter soup weather

November is awesome soup weather. Even in Southern Arizona it is starting to get cold in the mornings and evenings. Of course cold and flu season likes to attack people about this time of the year too. So this is good soup weather if you are cold or have a cold. While, this isn't a comforting soup recipe, these biscuits are perfect for dunking into soup or eating along side. In the case you have leftovers from Thanksgiving, any kind of herbs will work in this. I didn't have any fresh basil leftover so I used dried and it worked perfect. This would also be a great side dish to pizza or any pasta Italian style dish. My hubby said the flavors reminded him of pizza. It took approx 20 minutes to make and bake these - super easy. I hope you enjoy them! 

Recipe was adapted from Feb/March 2002 Light & Tasty magazine. 

Ingredients: 

1 1/8 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup shredded good parmesan cheese 
1 tsp dried basil or 1 Tbs fresh minced basil
1 1/4 tsp baking pwd
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup buttermilk *
1 1/2 Tbs Olive oil

1. In a large bowl mix all the ingredients together well. 
2. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead a few times until smooth
3. Sprinkle your hands with extra flour if the dough is sticking
4.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
5. Roll the dough into 1/2 inch thickness and use a biscuit cutter to make approx 10 circles * depending on your size of cutter. I used a glass cup since I was in a hurry. But a cutter is better because it doesn't press the sides of the biscuit making the biscuit more compact instead of having flaky layers.  
6. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet about an inch apart for 14-18 minutes. Pull them out when they look lightly browned. 
7. Serve hot with some soup

* if you don't have buttermilk try these two:  combine 2/3 cup of plain yogurt nonfat with 1/2 cup of 1% milk,  OR put 1 Tb of white vinegar in a one cup measuring cup and fill the rest of the measuring cup with 1% milk and let it stand for 5 minutes to thicken up. The buttermilk in this dish really makes the biscuits creamy and full favor without all the fat of butter.

Keep enjoying your Fall as we head into winter! 

From my Az kitchen to yours 

related recipes:

1.Tomato Basil Hidden Vegetable Soup

2.Classic Butternut Squash Soup

3. Bacon Zucchini Chili