Caramel-Cheddar Biscuits + Honey Glazed Apples

You’ve heard of caramel and cheddar popcorn. And you’ve heard of apple pie with cheddar… But what about caramel and cheddar BISCUITS with sweet, gooey apple-pie-like sautéed apples??

I mean think about it. Three iconic flavor combos: cheddar + apple, cheddar + caramel, and caramel + apple, all mixed together and turned into flakey, buttery, sweet and salty biscuits. Seriously, these are every southern comfort food lover’s dream!!!

They’re savory enough to have as breakfast or for a snack, but also can be made sweeter with a heavier drizzle of the honey caramel, making them the best end of summer-transitioning to fall dessert.

There are a few tricks to making the perfect soft, and extra flakey biscuits. The first one is using frozen butter. Using frozen butter (for biscuits, pie crust, any flakey dough recipe really) just ensures that it stays cold throughout the entire dough-making process. Whereas using cold butter from the refrigerator also works well, but ends up warming up the more you roll the dough out, thus blending into the dough completely versus the frozen bits melting into the dough while in the oven. Obviously, cold butter from the refrigerator is a totally acceptable substitute if you just can’t wait to make these (I understand), but if you have a few extra hours to spare… freeze your butter first.

The second trick is a pretty obvious one, and it has to do with the rolling process. The more times you fold the dough in half and roll it back out, the more layers you’ll get. You definitely want to do it at least 3 times, but you also don’t want to overwork the dough or else it will turn out tough. I’d say 3-5 times is the sweet spot.

The third trick is super simple, but it honestly makes a world of difference. You HAVE to top the biscuits off with a brush of buttermilk (or half and half/heavy cream) and a sprinkle of sugar. This makes the biscuits extra buttery and golden brown, plus the sugar crystals on top add an extra initial sweetness and crunch.

There are thousands of cheddar biscuit recipes out there, but there really aren’t that many caramel ones (which is really surprising to me). I had a lot of ideas of how to implement the caramel part into the biscuits, but ultimately, I settled with making homemade caramel chips that would melt into the biscuits as they baked. The finished product is a warm, fluffy biscuit oozing with melty, salty cheddar and sweet caramel streams running through it. The biscuits are so decadent alone, but the sautéed apples dripping in a honey caramel on top of it really push it over the edge.

Caramel Cheddar Biscuits + Honey Glazed Apples

12 biscuits

Caramel Cheddar Biscuits

• For the caramel: 1 cup white granulated sugar

• 2 cups self-rising flour

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter - frozen or chilled in the refrigerator

• 1 tbs. granulated sugar

• 1 tsp. salt

• 1 cup buttermilk OR 1 cup 2%, whole milk, or half and half + 1 tbs. apple cider vinegar vinegar

• 8 oz. sharp yellow cheddar

• 4 tbs. butter - melted

• 2 tbs. granulated or turbinado sugar

Honey Glazed Apples

• 2 large Honeycrisp, pink lady, or any red/pink apples

• 1/4 cup honey

• 5 tbs. butter

• 1 tsp. vanilla paste or extract

• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

• pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 450ºF.

Start by making the caramel. In a saucepan over medium-high heat, melt 1 cup sugar, stirring every once in a while. At first the melted sugar will harden into the dry sugar, but eventually it will all melt into an even sauce. Once all melted, it should be a pale-caramel brown color. If you have a candy thermometer, the caramel will be ready at 350ºF. Take off the heat and pour onto a baking sheet. Place in the freezer to set and harden.

Cut your frozen or cold butter into cubes. In a food processor, pulse the butter into the flour, 1 tbs. sugar, and salt until crumby. Cut the cold cheese into cubes and pulse that into the mixture as well. Pour in the buttermilk (if you don’t have buttermilk, mix 1 tbs. vinegar - I use apple cider - with 1 cup of milk and let sit for 5 minutes to create curds), and pulse that until a dough forms. Be careful not to over pulse the dough.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and roll out into about a 1/2 inch thick sheet. Fold in half and roll back out to a 1/2 inch thick sheet. Repeat this process 3-5 times to create flakey layers in your biscuits. Before you do the last repeat, add the caramel:

Crush the caramel on the baking sheet into small pieces with the back of a spoon or another utensil. Sprinkle the dough with the caramel pieces before folding over and rolling out once more.

For the final sheet, the thickness should be about 3/4 inch thick. Cut out circles from the dough (I use a glass drinking cup). Place the biscuits onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Brush with the melted butter and a sprinkle of either white or turbinado sugar. Bake for 10-13 minutes, or until golden brown and puffy.

While the biscuits are baking, prepare the honey glazed apples.

Thinly slice your apples. In a saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add in the apples and the honey and stir to coat all of the apples. Let cook until tender and the sauce begins to thicken and caramelize, stirring occasionally. Finish with the vanilla, salt, and cinnamon. Stir to combine.

Top your biscuits with the apples and drizzle with the honey caramel that formed in the pan with the apples.

You can also serve with a pat of butter, whipped cream, yogurt, or ice cream.