Cream cheese biscuits filled with silky semisweet chocolate and perfectly toasted pecans. These Chocolate-Pecan Cream Cheese Biscuits are what dreams are made of!
Real Talk…
I think we could all use a little lift in our spirits, don’t you? With everything going on in the world, I’d say it’s time to turn off the news and cue the sweet peace of hopping in the kitchen and baking. For me, baking is such an outlet of stress-relief, and its honestly just a place where I feel most myself–where I have the opportunity to be creative, to learn new things, and to better my skills. If I could be anywhere I’d choose to be in my kitchen kneading out dough, whipping up a meringue, or (let’s be honest) tasting a fresh batch of cookie dough.
But something else I love about being in the kitchen–it’s the place where I feel closest to Jesus. I think that’s because I’m walking out my God-given purpose when I’m baking or cooking, and getting to talk with Him and worship Him while I’m doing that is just such a gift. My heart is heavy this afternoon because of all that’s going on in Afghanistan.. for those that don’t know I grew up in a military household and my dad was deployed multiple times. When he left, I hoped and prayed that he’d come home safely and all in one piece, but I never had the assurance of that. I can remember going with my mom to deliver meals to neighbors (widows) that had just lost their husbands who were deployed. The thought of that ever happening to my own dad brought so much fear into my life, and to this day I still can’t imagine the pain those women must have felt.
My heart aches for the families of the 13 U.S. servicemen who just lost their lives yesterday. I feel helpless and discouraged, but I do know there’s one thing we can all do–pray. Pray for peace for the families of the fallen, pray for healing in our land, and pray for unity among God’s people. The list could go on and on, but as 2 Chronicles 7:14 says:
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
We have a God in Heaven who cares for us and yearns to heal our land. May we humble ourselves before Him, seek His face, and set our eyes towards Heaven.
I hope you know that I’m praying for each of you, my sweet blog-readers, and I speak blessings on you and your family always! Now, let’s talk biscuits…
Chocolate-Pecan Cream Cheese Biscuits
Ok y’all have to understand something… I was raised (for the most part) in the South.. which means that I LOVE me some homemade, flaky, buttery biscuits. So, I thought why not shake things up a bit from my classic Buttermilk Biscuit recipe, and make them with chocolate, pecans, and ummm hello… cream cheese. *cue allllll the heart eyes*
These flaky biscuits are filled with cream cheese, sour cream, toasted pecans, and semisweet chocolate. They’re topped with a sweet, creamy cream cheese frosting, and they are the perfect addition to your breakfast spread (or your anytime-of-the-day spread if you’re like me).
I couldn’t be more excited to share this recipe with you, it’s one of my new all-time favorites. I hope you love them as much as I do!
Ingredients for Chocolate-Pecan Cream Cheese Biscuits
Let’s hop into the nitty-gritty of this recipe:
- All-purpose Flour: The base of this recipe (and pretty much any biscuit recipe for that matter). I like to use unbleached all-purpose flour, but you can use bleached if that’s all you have.
- Baking Powder/Baking Soda: This is our leavened for this recipe (what gives us that beautiful biscuit rise).
- Kosher Salt: For flavor!
- Cream Cheese: of COURSE. No but really just make sure that this cheese is super cold and also cubed before you add it to the flour mixture, this makes everything so much easier!
- Unsalted Butter: Again, make sure this is SUPER cold and cubed before you go to use it. If the butter gets too warm we won’t end up with all of those flaky layers.
- Chocolate Chips: For their delicious flavor. I highly recommend using semisweet or even dark chocolate–milk chocolate can get a bit too sweet sometimes.
- Pecans: Just make sure these are toasted (and cooled) first! To toast them, just place them on an ungreased pan, and bake them at 350°F for 8 to 10 minutes or until they become fragrant.
- Sour Cream: This is going to replace our buttermilk for this recipe. I think it adds another level of creaminess and texture to the biscuits (which is exactly what we want).
- Egg Wash: This is so important if you want to get those perfectly golden brown tops! Feel free to brush on a little bit of melted butter as well if that’s all you have on hand.
Tips for Making Chocolate-Pecan Cream Cheese Biscuits
If you’re wanting a full step-by-step walk through of my technique for making biscuits, see my classic Buttermilk Biscuit recipe here. I really go into the process and steps behind making good old-fashioned, southern biscuits. Small mistakes or slip-ups in technique can result in not-so-hot biscuits, so be sure to follow every step accordingly!
- Use COLD ingredients. One of the most common mistakes when making biscuits is using room temperature ingredients. The goal is always to keep the butter as cold as possible, which means adding in cold ingredients (sour cream, cream cheese, cooled toasted pecans, etc.). Sometimes I’ll even freeze my butter before adding it to my dry ingredients. Just do yourself a favor and make sure everything stays as cold as possible!
- Mix as little as possible. Once I add my wet ingredients, I like to mix with a large fork. There’s no need for a hand mixer or stand-mixer, a simple fork will to the job perfectly 🙂 the reason is because we don’t want to overdevelop the gluten.. this will result in hockey pucks, not those flaky, perfect biscuits that we’re all looking for.
- The dough will be very dry, but stick with it. When you turn the dough out onto your surface, it’s going to be really shaggy and dry, but just continue working it with your hands and it will start to come together. I promise you don’t need to add more liquid, just give it a couple minutes and you’ll see 🙂
- Always have a bench scraper on hand. Everyone, meet your new best friend: the bench scraper. If you don’t already have one, this is your opportunity to get one! Every baker needs one in their stash of utensils, IMO. This will help you slice the biscuit dough in 3 portions in between rolling it out (for extra layers), and it’ll also help you, well… scrape your bench (workstation) after rolling out the dough.
- Use a 2-inch biscuit cutter. I like these biscuits to be smaller, and I found that 2-inches is the perfect size! I got mine from Target, they’re the Hearth and Hand brand!
I know biscuits can seem a little bit intimidating, but TRUST ME these are so easy and they’re the perfect intro to biscuits. Please feel free to reach out with any questions you might have, or drop me a line in the comments below!
I hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as I did, and if you make these be sure to tag me so I can see your beautiful biscuits! Much love to all of you!
XO,
Sarah
Chocolate-Pecan Cream Cheese Biscuits
Ingredients
For the Cream Cheese Biscuits
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 4 oz cream cheese cold and cubed
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter cold and cubed
- 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup pecans toasted and cooled
- 3/4 cup sour cream cold
- 1 large egg lightly beaten
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- 4 oz cream cheese at room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp kosher salt
- 1 to 2 Tbsp milk
Instructions
For the Cream Cheese Biscuits
- Preheat oven to 450°F. Line a sheet pan with parchment papper. In a large bowl whisk flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
- Place cream cheese and butter into flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter or the back of a fork quickly cut in cream cheese and butter until you see large, pea-sized clumps throughout the mixture.
- Stir in chocolate chips and cooled toasted pecans. Add sour cream and mix with a large fork until the dough begins to come together.
- Turn out the shaggy dough onto a floured. Gently and quickly knead mixture until you're able to shape it into a large disc. Roll out dough into a 1-inch thick oval.
- Using a bench scraper or large knife, slice dough into 3 equal parts, then stack each slice on top of each other. Roll dough out again into a 1-inch thick oval.
- Using a 2-inch biscuit cutter, cut biscuits out and place onto prepared baking sheet. Chill biscuits 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from refrigerator and brush the tops with egg wash.
- Place the pan in the oven, reduce the heat to 400°F and bake 18 to 20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown, rotating the pan half-way through bake time.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- Beat cream cheese in a medium bowl using a handheld mixer or stand-mixer on high speed 1 to 2 minutes. Beat in powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt until smooth.
- If desired to reach the right consistency, beat in 1 to 2 Tbsp milk. The texture should be slightly runny but still able to hold it's shape.
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