Sage Brown Butter Biscuits
Happy fall in the northern hemisphere! Or in my household, Sage Brown Butter Biscuits season! I feel like these biscuits are fall coded without screaming it in your face. The brown butter adds such a warm nutty flavor. And sage is the perfect fall herb to incorporate into these buttery biscuits that are sure to be a crowd pleaser for the upcoming holidays!
Tips for the flakiest biscuits
Biscuits are great, because they don’t require a ton of precise techniques. Once you have the ingredients rough combined, its all about just shaping the dough and baking it up! However there are a few things you can do to ensure that you have the flakiest biscuits every time!
- Buttermilk gives the biscuits a nice tangy flavor but the acidity in it also helps react with the baking soda for a good rise. So if you’re using milk instead, just make sure sure to add in a tablespoon of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar and that should do the trick.
- Make sure your buttermilk and browned butter are cold when incorporated into the flour. This will ensure that the biscuits are flakey and light. Working quickly with your hands when shaping the dough will also make sure that the butter doesn’t have a chance to melt.
- Stay away from over mixing! The more you mix dough, the more gluten you have. While thoroughly kneading dough is absolutely essential for cinnamon rolls, having a shaggy mixture here will yield biscuits with nice buttery layers and an earthy sage flavor that comes through in every bite.
Kitchen Tools
Ingredients
In this section, I’m talking about the hero ingredients for this recipe. Meaning, these ingredients make this recipe special and where the flavors come from. For a complete list of ingredients, see the recipe card below.
- European style cultured butter: There are two schools of thought when it comes to butter for baking. There are those who swear by European style cultured butter for everything. And then there are those who couldn’t tell you the difference between the two. I’m somewhere in the middle where I make it a point to shell out the extra few dollars when I know butter is going to be a focal point in the recipe. So for example, I probably wouldn’t fret over using it in a german chocolate cake because there are so many other flavors in there. But if I were making a pound cake or these Sage Brown Butter Biscuits, I would definitely prioritize the European style cultured butter. Once you try it, you’ll understand how much more vibrant the flavor is! But don’t worry if you just don’t have it on hand. I’ve gone plenty of times with the uncultured butter and this recipe stills turns out great.
- Fresh sage: I would highly suggest using fresh sage leaves here because you want that flavor to run through the entire dough. The dried herb just won’t do it justice. Often times I have leftover sage after making this recipe. So I like to remove the leaves from their stems and leave them out to dry. Then I can use the herb all season long in soups and roasted veggies!
I hope you enjoyed learning about the best Sage Brown Butter Biscuits! If you try this recipe out, I would love to see your creation – tag me on Instagram @cherrycreekbakes. And don’t forget to let me know your thoughts in the comments below and give it a star rating.
Sage Brown Butter Biscuits
Learn how to make the coziest batch of these buttery biscuits to get you in the fall mood and enjoy with some good company!
Servings 12
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces, plus more, melted, for brushing
- 5 leaves sage
- 3½ cups all-purpose flour plus more for surface
- 2½ teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup chilled buttermilk
Instructions
Sage infused browned butter
- In a medium saucepan on low-medium heat, melt the butter until completely liquid. Once melted, add in the sage leaves. With a spatula, keep mixing the butter until you start to see foamy bubbles on the edges and the butter turns a warm golden brown color. You may need to turn the heat down a bit if the butter is sputtering a lot.
- Once browned, transfer sage infused butter to a bowl and set aside in the fridge.
Biscuit dough
- Preheat oven to 400°.
- Pulse baking powder, salt, sugar, baking soda, and 3½ cups flour in a food processor to combine.
- Add chilled butter and pulse until largest pieces of butter are the size of a pea.
- Transfer to a large bowl and gradually drizzle buttermilk over top, tossing with a fork as you go to incorporate. Lightly knead the mixture a few times in bowl until a shaggy dough forms (mixture will look a little dry), then turn out onto a clean surface and divide the dough into two balls.
- Pat each ball into a 1 inch thick square. Stack the squares on top of each other, sandwiching any loose dry bits of dough between the two layers, and press down to flatten.
- Lift up the dough with a bench scraper and dust the surface with flour. Roll dough into a 1 inch thick rectangle. Cut into a 4×3 grid to make 12 biscuits. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing 2 inches apart. Freeze the shaped biscuits for 10 minutes.
- Remove from the freezer and brush the tops of biscuits with melted butter. Bake the biscuits until golden on top, about 20–25 minutes.
- Best served fresh with a liberal spreading of butter and a drizzle of honey.
Notes
This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations. If you replace or add any ingredients, please let me know how it turned out in the comments below. I’m always open to feedback and idea sharing!
Allergens: Dairy, Gluten
Do ahead: Shaped biscuits can be frozen and then baked later. Do not thaw before baking; add 1-2 minutes to baking time or until the develop a golden brown color on top.
