I was not a seafood lover until I was an adult. Growing up, I enjoyed the shrimp we ate twice a year for Christmas Eve & Christmas Day dinners. Other than that, “seafood” meant fish, in the form of Mrs. Paul’s frozen fish sticks or salmon patties made from canned salmon on Friday nights during Lent when I was a kid and Filet-o-Fish sandwiches as the free meal during my shift at McDonald’s when I worked there for a year as a teenager. But then I was taken to a Red Lobster Restaurant for a birthday celebration with Eric’s family. It was the first time I remember eating at a “real” seafood restaurant. There are two things I remember about that dinner. Seafood came in way more varieties, sizes, colors & shapes than I had ever been exposed to before & the cheddar biscuits were addictive!

As time passed, I started eating seafood more often. I went from only eating shrimp dishes to trying at least a bite of most seafood. We graduated from eating seafood at Red Lobster to eating seafood in high end restaurants and at home. But there was nothing like those biscuits from Red Lobster at the fancy places. I would think of the biscuits whenever I passed a Red Lobster restaurant when we traveled. (We haven’t had a local Red Lobster in ages.) Two events occurred recently that brought those biscuits back to mind. I noticed Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuit Mix at Costco & I found a recipe for the very same biscuits in my collection of “Recipes to Try Out” binder. What better time to try them out than on a cold weekend during a New England winter when we were making some clam chowder?!

Cheddar Biscuits

Cheddar Biscuits  (adapted from Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2 by Todd Wilbur) Makes 12 biscuits

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups Bisquick baking mix
• 3/4 cup cold milk
• 4 tablespoons cold butter, cut up
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic, divided
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/8 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
• 1 teaspoon minced scallion
• pinch salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400º.

Combine the Bisquick with the cold butter in the bowl of a mixer until the butter is broken down into pea-sized pieces. Add the cheddar cheese and 1/4 teaspoon garlic, mix to distribute the cheese, then add the milk. Mix until just barely combined, but don’t over mix.

Mix the Bisquick with the cheese & garlic first.

Drop 1/4-cup portions of the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet using an ice cream scoop. Bake the biscuits for 15 to 17 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits begin to turn light brown.

Each biscuit is about 1/4 cup of dough.

Take the biscuits out of the oven and combine the melted butter in a small bowl with the 1/2 teaspoon garlic, dried parsley flakes, pinch of salt & the chopped scallion.

The melted butter gets seasoned with garlic, salt, parsley & minced scallions.

Use a brush to spread the garlic butter over the tops of all the biscuits, using all of the butter. Serve immediately.

Brush the baked biscuits with the butter mixture.

 These are a great go-along with seafood dishes!  ~Linda

Cheddar Biscuits  (adapted from Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2 by Todd Wilbur) Makes 12 biscuits

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups Bisquick baking mix
• 3/4 cup cold milk
• 4 tablespoons cold butter, cut up
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic, divided
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/8 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
• 1 teaspoon minced scallion
• pinch salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400º.

Combine the Bisquick with the cold butter in the bowl of a mixer until the butter is broken down into pea-sized pieces. Add the cheddar cheese and 1/4 teaspoon garlic, mix to distribute the cheese, then add the milk. Mix until just barely combined, but don’t over mix.

Drop 1/4-cup portions of the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet using an ice cream scoop. Bake the biscuits for 15 to 17 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits begin to turn light brown.

Take the biscuits out of the oven and combine the melted butter in a small bowl with the 1/2 teaspoon garlic, dried parsley flakes, pinch of salt & the chopped scallion. Use a brush to spread the garlic butter over the tops of all the biscuits, using all of the butter. Serve immediately.