Pumpkin Apple Cheddar Biscuits

It has been five years since I was with my family for Thanksgiving. It's hard, logistically and monetarily, to make it home twice in two months, so I've always prioritized Christmas (the king of all holidays), and consequently I've had some interesting Thanksgivings.

There was the year in Olympia my best friend and I roasted a Turducken with our classmates, only we put a cornish game hen inside the chicken, inside the duck, inside the turkey. So we called it Feastsgiving, the Four Fowled Feast, and it was amazing. There was the year I went to Montreal with S and his family to see his brother, and used my broken high school French to buy the pies for dessert at a tiny little bakery. We created a full Thanksgiving feast and ate it with his brothers Canadian roommates. There was also one year where I sat alone in a dorm room with my broken leg in a cast while my then-boyfriend hung out on his friend's family's private island in the Puget Sound. That was the first, and indisputably worst, year. 

This year, again I will not be going to Cleveland, but my mother will be coming here! It will just be S, my mother, and me for Thanksgiving, so we're going to roast the smallest turkey we can find, and I suspect I will have quell my desire to make atleast ten side dishes, lest we end up with a fridge so full of leftovers we cannot close it. Consequently, I have declared the month of November Thanksgiving Month. 

All month I shall be making, and posting, Thanksgiving themed sides, appetizers, desserts, and baked goods. I shall make a complete, delicious, vast Thanksgiving feast, one dish at a time, and share it all with you. Beginning, deliciously, with these biscuits.

These biscuits, made with grated cheddar, pumpkin puree, and Kerrygold Dubliner cheese, are heavenly. The consistency is on par with a regular drop biscuit, though a bit moister due to the apple. S thought the extra moistness was their crowning glory, but I thought it was the subtle hint of nutmeg mixing with the cheese. 

The pumpkin, of course, tastes of earthy, semisweet autumn flavors, augmented by the sweet and tart apple, while the cheese melts luxuriously in little pockets, creamy and delightful. These are great with dinner, and would be a phenomenal substitute for the usual Pillsbury dinner rolls in a Thanksgiving spread!

Pumpkin Apple Cheddar Biscuits

You can use canned or homemade pumpkin puree in this recipe. I have provided the recipe for my homemade pumpkin puree below, which is what I used.  

2  cups flour

2 tbsp honey

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 C - butter chilled and chopped into small cubes

1 small apple - grated

3/4 C Dubliner cheese or sharp cheddar

1/2 C buttermilk

3/4 C Pumpkin Puree (canned or homemade)

1/4 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

small dash salt

preheat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit. 

In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and ginger. Mix well with fork to combine.

Cut in butter with two forks, your hands,  or pastry cutter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

In large measuring cup, combine buttermilk, honey, and pumpkin puree. Mix until well combined.  

Stir in pumpkin puree mixture until flour is just moistened. Gently stir in grated apple and cheese. 

Use a large table spoon to scoop out the biscuits and drop them onto a greased pan. 

Bake for 13-17 minutes. 

These are delicious served warm with butter, jam, or I imagine they would be amazing with apple or pumpkin butter!

Homemade Pumpkin Puree: 

Cut one small pumpkin into halves, scoop out the seeds and stringy bits. Cut the halves in half, and bake in a 250 degree fahrenheit oven for 45 minutes, or until pumpkin flesh is soft when poked with fork. Remove from oven, allow to cool, and scoop the flesh out of the skin. Place in a food processor, and if you're like me and prefer it a bit thinner, add about 1/4C of apple cider. Process until smooth.