Pumpkin-Parmesan Biscuits

This month's theme for What's Baking was Cooking with Sweet Potato and/or Pumpkin.  While I could eat sweet potato every day of the week and be perfectly happy, I like to use What's Baking to expand my palate, so I opted to go with a pumpkin recipe.  This month's Food Network Magazine included a recipe for Pumpkin-Parmesan Biscuits.  As soon as I saw this, I knew it was the recipe I wanted to use.

I had almost everything on hand, except for the pumpkin, so it just took a quick stop at the store and I was good to go.  The steps were easy to follow and it only took me about an hour to make these.  The one thing I did differently from the printed recipe was that I didn't have a 2 inch cutter, so I used the smallest thing I had - a 3 inch round glass.  Instead of making 16 biscuits like the recipe says, I ended up with 10 (it could have been a few more, but I was lazy and didn't want to roll out the leftover dough and use a second baking pan).

They ended up being very tasty.  You can taste the pumpkin, but it's not overwhelming.  At least in the few bites I got in before my husband stole the rest of the biscuit I was eating for himself (after eating 2 of his own!).  So I think if he's the judge, then these were a big hit!

Pumpkin-Parmesan Biscuits (as printed in Food Network Magazine, November 2012

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 tablespoons finely grated parmesan cheese
1 stick cold unsalted butter, diced, plus melted butter for brushing
1/2 cup canned pure pumpkin
1/4 cup heavy cream

Directions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F; line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and nutmeg in a large bowl.
- Whisk in 1 tablespoon parmesan.
- Add the diced butter and work it in with your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.
- Mix the pumpkin and cream in a small bowl and pour over the flour mixture.
- Mix with your hands or a fork to make a soft dough.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out into a 3/4-inch-thick rectangle using a floured rolling pin.
- Cut out biscuits using a 2-inch-round cutter and arrange about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
- Brush the tops with melted butter and sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon parmesan.
- Bake until golden, 15 to 20 minutes.
- Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and let the biscuits cool slightly before serving or cool completely and freeze.