Every Helping
Sign in

Baking recipe · from the recipe book

Basil Ricotta Black Pepper Drop Biscuits

Tender, cloud-soft biscuits with creamy ricotta, a bright fresh basil flavor and a warm black pepper bite under golden, craggy tops.

Basil Ricotta Black Pepper Drop Biscuits

Ingredients

  • 2⅓ cups300 gAll-purpose flour
  • 2½ tsp12 gBaking powder
  • ½ tsp2 gBaking soda
  • ¾ tsp4 gSalt
  • 1¾ tsp4 gBlack peppercoarsely cracked
  • 1 tbsp2 gDried basil
  • ½ cup100 gUnsalted buttercold, cut into small cubes, plus melted for brushing (see steps)
  • ¾ cup leaves20 gFresh basilfinely chopped
  • ¾ cup180 gPart-skim ricotta
  • ¾ cup (180 ml)180 gButtermilk, low-fatcold
  • ⅓ cup grated30 gGrated Parmesan

Steps

  1. Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment.
  2. Set aside one-fifth of the butter in a small bowl to melt later for brushing; keep the remaining four-fifths cold.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, black pepper and dried basil.
  4. Add the cold cubed butter (the four-fifths portion) to the flour mixture and rub it in with your fingertips until it looks like coarse crumbs with some pea-size pieces.
  5. Toss the fresh basil and the parmesan into the flour mixture.
  6. In a separate bowl, whisk the ricotta and buttermilk until smooth.
  7. Pour the ricotta mixture into the flour mixture and stir gently with a spatula just until a shaggy, sticky dough forms; do not overmix.
  8. Drop the dough in 12 even mounds, about 2 inches apart, onto the prepared baking sheet.
  9. Bake for 14 to 17 minutes, until the tops and edges are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  10. Meanwhile, melt the reserved butter, then brush it over the hot biscuits as soon as they come out of the oven.
  11. Cool the biscuits on a rack for 10 minutes before serving warm.

Food safety: Don't taste raw dough or batter: raw flour and raw eggs can carry germs.

Contains: Milk, Gluten.

Cook mode Log it in Today

Made it

Made it? Share how yours turned out.

Saved in the Every Helping recipe book on October 24, 2026.

Want one that fits your numbers?

Pick the meal, the pan and your targets, and the Every Helping recipe generator writes a recipe with every number worked out. Free on the web.

Make a recipeMore from the recipe book