#FoodieExtravaganza ~ Maple Bacon & Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits

Today's Foodie Extravaganza day is celebrating the Buttermilk Biscuit. Kathleen, from Fearlessly Creative Mammas is the host this month, and to celebrate her southern roots, she picked Buttermilk Biscuits as the theme. May 14th is actually Buttermilk Biscuit day, but we get to pick from any of the foods in the specific month, so Buttermilk Biscuits it is. We pick our foods from the website The Nibble.

Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board! Looking for our previous parties? Check them out HERE.

These biscuits are best fresh from the oven - they come out tender, fluffy, and wonderfully flavorful. The cheddar, maple, bacon combination is fantastic and the touch of garlic powder adds a little something on the savory side - but you could skip it.

These fantastic biscuits are brushed with a buttery maple glaze fresh from the oven - as if they needed anything more! You could also skip the glaze if you don't want them to stay more balanced in the sweet and savory flavors, the glaze definitely pushes them more into sweet but goes very nicely with the biscuit.

To turn these into a pretty spectacular meal, I whipped up a few poached eggs and topped the biscuits with an egg and drizzled on a little more glaze. Rich, decadent, and delicious. Serve this up with a big fresh fruit salad to balance it out!

Look at all the fantastic Buttermilk Biscuit inspired recipes at these links:

• Cacio e Pepe Biscuits by Laura at Baking in Pajamas 
• Buttermilk Biscuit Mixed Berry Shortcake by Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm 
• Savory Buttermilk Butter Biscuits by Kathleen at Fearlessly Creative Mammas 
• Tarragon Sweet Potato Biscuits by Caroline at Caroline's Cooking 
• Maple and Bacon Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits by Rebekah at Making Miracles 
•  Cinnamon Buttermilk Biscuits by Lauren at From Gate to Plate 
• Bacon Honey Mustard Biscuits by Stacy from Food Lust People Love Buttermilk Lemon Biscuits by Kathya from Basic N Delicious 
• Southern Buttermilk Biscuits by Georgina from G'Gina's Kitchenette 
• Biscuit Cinnamon Rolls with Chopped Pecans by Elaine from Cookin and Craftin 
• Biscuit French Toast by Teri from The Freshman Cook 
• Southern Buttermilk Biscuits by Sneha from Sneha's Recipes

Maple Bacon and Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits adapted from The Chunky Chef
Makes approximately 12 biscuits

Biscuits
2 cups all purpose flour
1 TBS baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
4 thick cut slices bacon, diced into small pieces
1 cup Cabot's Seriously Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded
2 TBS butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
Reserved bacon grease from cooking bacon (about 2 TBS)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup buttermilk

Maple Glaze (inspired by Sally's Baking Addiction)
2 TBS butter
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with a silpat. Set aside.
2. Dice bacon and cook in a small skillet until crispy. Remove to a paper towel lined plate with a slotted spoon. Pour grease into a small bowl and place in the freezer to chill.
3. In a medium size bowl combine your flour, baking powder, garlic powder, and salt. Add chilled butter and bacon grease (you need 4 TBS of fat total, so if you have more than 2 TBS of bacon grease, reduce the amount of butter accordingly), and cut into the dry ingredients. Mixture should resemble wet fluffy sand with small pea-sized lumps.
4. Add in the shredded cheese and crisped bacon and stir gently to combine.
5. Make a well in the center, and add in buttermilk and maple syrup. Mix with a fork or spatula combine. The mixture will be fairly wet.
6. Scoop out approximately 1/4 cup of dough into slightly damp hands as dough will be sticky. Pat into a slightly flattened round biscuit shape and place onto the silpat lined baking sheet, with a few inches in between each biscuit.
7. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until starting to turn a light golden brown on top.
8. While biscuits are baking, prepare the glaze by combining the maple syrup and butter together in a small saucepan and simmering for about 5 minutes to allow mixture to thicken a little. Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla.
9. When biscuits are baked, use a pastry brush and generously brush warm biscuits with glaze, or drizzle over the top, as desired.