Recipe: Carthay Circle House Biscuits

If you've arrived here through a Google search, well, you already know what you're in for. California Adventure's Carthay Circle Restaurant's House Biscuits are the stuff of legend, and if you've not been lucky enough to have them in person, I'll just say this: Get ready for the best bread you've ever had. Yeah, I said it. Hot, doughy, crisp-on-the-outside, full-of-melty-cheese-and-bacon-on-the-inside, these are beyond good. Doc and I visited the Carthay Circle Restaurant last year as part of my 30th birthday bash, and being a bread lover I couldn't resist ordering a round of these as a starter. At $12 a basket (a basket containing perhaps 8 rolls), they are worth every penny. If you ever find yourself at California Adventure, you MUST make a reservation at Carthay Circle and order these rolls. You simply must. However, in the meantime, I'm going to tell you how to enjoy them at home, because after more than a year of experimenting, I believe I've finally nailed it. Now, down to business.

Carthay Circle House Biscuits Copycat Recipe

Yield: 16 rolls (serves 4 adults or less - trust me)

Ingredients

For the bread:
Starter
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup whole wheat flour

Dough
6 tablespoons warm water
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 heaping tablespoons vegetable shortening, such as Crisco
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tablespoon salt
Starter

For the Filling:
4 slices bacon, cooked crispy and trimmed
8 oz Cracker Barrel Sharp White Cheddar, grated
12 slices nacho jalapeño peppers
1/4 cup jalapeño juice
Bacon grease from cooked bacon

For the Butter:
1 stick salted butter, softened
1/4 cup Smucker's Simply Fruit, Apricot
1 tablespoon honey

Oh, and you'll need a deep fryer filled with vegetable oil and a 1 1/2 tablespoon cookie scoop...

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship...

To make the starter, combine the warm water and yeast in a bowl until yeast has fully dissolved. Add the flour. Cover and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

BACON!!!!!!

While the starter is working, you can make your filling. Grate the cheese and set that aside in a large bowl; cook the bacon until extra crispy, trimming the excess fat when cool. Let the bacon grease cool down a bit while you combine the bacon, jalapeño slices and jalapeño juice in the food processor (I used my Magic Bullet). Pulse until you have a rather chunky paste, like so:

It really is just like magic...

Combine this mixture with the cheese and slightly cooled bacon grease. You don't have to go crazy with the bacon grease, just whatever sort of slops out of the pan is fine. Once your mixture is evenly coated with all the goodies, pop it in the fridge - it'll be easier to work with later.

Awwww, yeah.

You probably still have time to make your apricot honey butter before your starter's done, so throw all those ingredients in a bowl and blend them up with your mixer. It's really important that all of these ingredients be at room temperature when you try to mix them, or the butter will try to bead up on you. You want nice, fluffy butter.

 

Sweet, salty goodness.

Now then, you're ready to finish the bread dough. Combine the water, honey, and yeast; stir to dissolve the yeast, then add the shortening, salt, and starter. You'll have something that looks like this:

And it will smell heavenly.

 Mix in the flour, either by hand or in a stand mixture, kneading until the dough is fully developed.

This dough is good on its own, too, by the way. We like to use it as bread bowls for soup.

Cover with a warm, damp cloth and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Now comes the fun part! Separate your dough into 16 even pieces. I like to start with 4, then break each one of those down into 4. SO much easier than eyeballing 16ths! Flatten each small piece into about a 3-4" square. With your cookie scoop, scoop out a firmly-packed ball of filling into the middle of your flattened dough. Wrap the dough around the filling, pressing dough firmly to close (I like to use a dumpling method, but whatever works for you). Roll your filled dough back into a ball-like shape. When all your dough bits are filled, place them into the freezer for an hour or until fully frozen. At this point, you can transfer them to a freezer-safe container and leave them until you're ready to eat (this is an excellent way to stockpile these for when cravings hit, and trust me, they're going to).

I feel an Oliver-esque chorus of "Food, Glorious Food" coming on...

While your dough balls are in the freezer, preheat your fryer to 360ºF. Depending on the size of your fryer, you'll probably be frying the rolls in batches of 4-6. I have one of these, and generally put in 4 at a time. You want them to have some room, because they will puff up a bit once they hit the hot oil. Let them cook in the oil for 3 1/2 minutes. When they come out of the fryer, toss them on a paper towel to soak up any residue oil that might be hiding in the nooks and crannies.

Golden brown crust, nicely crisp. So unassuming...

If you let your friends and family have at the first batch before you're finished frying the rest, be prepared to start fending people off with your butter knife. Yes, they're really THAT GOOD. Never, ever take these to a party unless you want to be asked to bring them to Every Single Party Forever After. Think I'm overselling them a bit? Wait 'til you try them.

Delicious, ooey-gooey amazingness.

Break one open, slather with apricot honey butter, and try not to think about how much you'd like to be queuing up for Radiator Springs Racers when you're finished. Enjoy!

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