March Madness ACC Tribute -- Virginia Ham and Cheese Biscuits

If you're in the south, you know that biscuits are a way of life.  These are nice little stand alone snacks, though feel free to split them open and fill them with more ham...you really can't have enough ham...or cheese...or pepper jelly...or whatever.  However you decide to dress them up or dress them down, they will be delicious.

Ham and Cheese Biscuits

2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 stick cold butter, divided
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup cooked ham, chopped finely
1/2-3/4 cup skim milk
1 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp garlic salt

In a medium sized bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Add in 1/3 cup (5 1/3 tbsp) cold butter cut into small pieces.

Using your hands, mix the butter into the dry ingredients until it takes on a crumbly appearance.  Once it is fairly uniform, mix in the cheese and ham.

Add in the milk a bit at a time until the mixture comes together into a dough. You don’t want it to be too wet or sticky, it just needs to be dry enough to roll out easily.

Roll the dough out and, using a 2” biscuit cutter, cut out the biscuits. If you need to, throw a little flour down on your surface to keep it from sticking.  Roll the leftover dough together to cut out more biscuits.

Place the biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.

While those are baking, melt the rest of the stick of butter and mix in 1 tsp of parsley. After the biscuits have been in the oven for 5 minutes, remove them long enough to brush with the butter mixture and continue to bake until golden brown on the underside.

Once you remove them, brush the rest of the melted butter over the biscuits.  The biscuits will absorb most of the butter so you don't have to worry about them being too greasy.

Ready to serve as a snack or a side for breakfast (or dinner for breakfast).  Makes 2-2 1/2 dozen.

NOTES

You can use the dough to make bigger biscuits, or if you don't have a cutter, just grab a heaping tablespoon of dough and roll it into a ball, then press it flat.

University of Virginians are known as the Cavaliers, the Cavs, the Wahoos or just the Hoos.  The latter two nicknames comes from a rally cry -- wa-hoo-wa -- used at the university in the 1880s and it just stuck.