Williams-Sonoma Cheddar-Bacon Biscuits

What are the secrets to making tender, flaky biscuits? When cutting the butter into the flour, work quickly so it doesn't melt too much before you put the biscuits in the oven. And when adding the milk, don't overmix the dough; stir until the ingredients are just combined.

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
8 Tbs. (1 stick) cold unsalted butter
1 cup finely shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 cup chopped fresh chives
6 bacon slices, finely chopped and fried
until crisp
1 1/2 cups milk
Directions:
Position a rack in the lower third of an oven and preheat to 400ºF. Lightly spray a biscuit pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in the butter until it resembles coarse meal. Add the cheese, chives and bacon; using a fork, stir until evenly distributed. Add the milk; using a rubber spatula, stir until just combined. Divide the dough among the wells of the prepared pan.

Bake until the biscuits are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of a biscuit comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes. Invert the pan onto the rack and lift off the pan. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.
Makes 7 biscuits.

My biscuits

Williams-Sonoma's Biscuits

These seemed like they would be really good. They were okay. I had a few problems with them. First, I don't know what a biscuit pan is, so I made them like drop-type biscuits. Maybe I should have used a muffin pan because they spread out a ton. I made seven like the recipe says, and they were gigantic. I might have a slight problem with my oven where it turns off in the middle of baking, and that may have had to do with why they spread out huge and took closer to an hour to cook.

They tasted good, but it was weird to be eating a tender, flaky biscuit and run into a piece of chewy bacon. If I make them again, maybe I'll use turkey bacon, so it can get really crispy.

I noticed that Williams-Sonoma has an updated version on their website. Maybe it's better.