Black-Pepper Biscuits

In the June issue of Martha Stewart Living, there is a recipe for Black-Pepper Biscuits. I thought adding pepper to biscuits was a splendid idea, so the last time I made biscuits, I gave it a try. 

I didn't use the recipe from the magazine, but used my old, standby biscuit recipe instead. The extra bite the pepper gives the biscuits is really nice.
 
Here is a simple recipe for biscuits - the one I use all the time. I find rolling out biscuits to be tedious, so I almost always just drop them on the baking sheet. This recipe will makes 9 nice sized drop biscuits.

Biscuits
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/3 cup shortening
2/3 cup milk

Combine the dry ingredients. Cut in the shortening. Stir in the milk until just mixed. Roll out and cut the biscuits or drop onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 425 degrees for 10-13 minutes.

*Add about 3/4 tsp or more of freshly ground black-pepper (the coarser the better) to turn these into black-pepper biscuits.

I just happened to have some lemon curd in the fridge when I made the biscuits, so I served it with them. What a delicious combination.

Lemon curd is simple to make and so yummy. Here is the recipe I used, taken from The Gourmet Cookbook. It makes a lot (about 3 cups), so you will probably only want to make half.

Lemon Curd
1 Tbsp + 2 tsp lemon zest
1 cup fresh lemon juice
1 1/3 cups sugar
4 eggs
pinch of salt
1 3/4 sticks butter, cut into tablespoons

Whisk zest, juice, sugar, eggs, and salt in a heavy saucepan. Add butter and cook over medium low heat, whisking constantly, until curd is thick enough to hold marks of whisk and first bubbles appear on surface, about 10 minutes. Immediately strain then cool to room temperature. Keep refrigerated. Will keep for one week.