Rosemary Pancetta Beer Biscuits

Before I went on my trip, I received an email from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program which informed me that I would receive a stipend to purchase New Belgium Brewing Company beer and the ingredients needed to make a recipe using the beer. I didn’t have time to work on it before I left, but beer was on my mind while I was gone. I couldn’t wait to pick up some beer as soon as I got back.

I purchased two large bottles of New Belgium Brewing Company beer:

Here are the descriptions of the beers from the bottles: 

I decided to use the beer to make some biscuits. I have made bread using beer before, and we all liked it. Plus, it’s an easy recipe that I have played around with with success (remember, I’m not much of a baker…). To make the biscuits, I tweaked the bread recipe a bit more. Unlike a traditional biscuit recipe, my biscuits contain no butter or shortening, but they do contain pancetta!


Rosemary Pancetta Beer Biscuits

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 7 ounces beer; I used Fat Tire Amber Ale
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 2 ounces pancetta, cut into very small cubes
• Rosemary to taste; I used the needles of two small (3 inch) branches. Rosemary can be very powerful, so less is often more. The rolls had a slight, very pleasant Rosemary taste.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together the flour, salt, and baking powder.
3. Slowly stir in the beer.
4. Stir in the honey until it is worked in. Don’t overwork the dough.
5. Stir in the pancetta and rosemary.
6. Scoop the dough on a baking sheet with a spoon.
7. Bake for 20 minutes, until the biscuits are slightly brown. I like my biscuits slightly moist in the middle; if you want yours all the way done, bake a few minutes longer.
8. Enjoy!

Prep and Bake Time: 25 minutes
Servings: 12 small biscuits

The biscuits are not fluffy like traditional biscuits, but the denser texture made them perfect beer food, and they went REALLY well with cheese, salami, mustard, and the Belgium Brewing Company beer! And since I bought two 22-ounce bottles, we had plenty of beer left to drink with the biscuits!  




Hubby and I both enjoyed the two beers a lot! New Belgium Brewing Company makes a wide variety of beers, and we can’t wait to taste some of their other beers soon!

As I said before, the biscuits faintly tasted and smelled like rosemary. If you want a stronger rosemary flavor, just use more rosemary. Also, you could easily increase the amount of pancetta if you are after a “meatier” biscuit! Or you could leave it out entirely of course.

What I love most about these biscuits are the endless possibilities of “add ins:” cheese, different herbs, garlic, onions, ham and cheese – the possibilities never end!

Questions: Do you like beer? Have you ever cooked with beer? If so, feel free to link to a recipe in the comments!

Be well,
Andrea