This is the most amazing combination of Pillsbury canned biscuits (God forbid), butter and blue cheese (That’s it!). Addicting?? Yes!!
Several summers ago, I spent an incredible 2 weeks with my close friend, Libby, at her summer home on Higgins Lake in Michigan. I’ve been going to Higgins in the summer with her Aunt Lib and Uncle Dick (they were like a second set of parents to me) since I was 8 years old. They are now gone; so Joel (when he can go) and I stay at Libby’s cottage. As Joel says, “Higgins Lake is like a summer camp for adults”! It is an absolutely gorgeous lake with cottages along one side, most of which have been there between 50 and 100 years. It seems as if time stands still there. The only thing that might change is a tree might get blown down!
All of the cottages eat at a dining hall. They hire a chef and serving staff to serve 3 meals a day during the summer months. There’s a bell that rings 3o minutes before mealtimes. I must say it’s embarrassing when a bell rings and I start drooling! Sooo there is no cooking...except for cocktail parties and Sunday nights. What a great friend to share such a wonderful place with me! I just love her…and Higgins Lake!!
My friend, Libby’s, family cottage in Lakeside Camp on Higgins Lake. A heavenly place to be!
This is Dick in his regular morning position, doing what he did every morning.
My family did not like to travel, and I did; so, after Libby and Dick moved to Weimar and became close friends with my family, they started taking me with them on their summer trips when I was 8 years old. I spent about a month each summer in this cottage with Dick and Libby, my “adopted parents”. This cottage was built in Pinewoods Camp on Higgins Lake over 50 years ago by Libby’s parents. It is now owned by the descendants of Libby Taggart McCreary and her 4 sisters. Her brother, Alex, had a cottage next door. That cottage is now owned by his daughter and my friend, Bitsy Taggart Fitzsimmons.
One evening, our friend, Connie Harvey, invited us over for a cocktail party. She served these “things”. Well, needless to say, I camped out by the table these babies were on! I was addicted! No one at the party seemed to know if they actually had a name; so I’ve named them Blue Cheese Cocktail Bites...they contain blue cheese, they are great with cocktails and they are bite sized…”Hello”! Whatever their name really is, they are a winner…the “bet you can’t eat just one” variety.
Back to the real world! We had our good friends, Mike and Carolyn, over for dinner a few weeks ago. As one of them is on a diet…not saying which one. I know it wasn’t very nice of me to serve these, but I really wanted to try them once more to make sure the recipe was blog worthy and to photograph it. After 4 bites, the comment was, “Grand Biscuits only have 60 calories per biscuit; so considering each bite is only 1/4 of a biscuit, I had about 100 calories, including the butter and the blue cheese.” Yeah…right!! Wishful thinking! And…they did take home the leftovers. There were only 4 of us and there were only 6-8 bites left; so you might want to adjust the serving numbers depending on what else you are serving. I’ve served these little gems a few other times with the same results. I think this recipe passes the test. It is blog worthy!!
These are the ingredients you will to make these little gems! I prefer to use the Pacific Blue Cave Aged Blue Cheese, but if I don’t have it and don’t want to make a trip to Costco, this will do.
These are the three ingredients you’ll need to make this tasty appetizer: a can of biscuits, butter and blue cheese…how bad can that be??? Don’t let the blue cheese stop you if you aren’t a lover…you won’t know it’s blue cheese. My friends usually think it’s Parmesan cheese. I prefer to use Pacific Blue Cave Aged Blue Cheese from Costco…it comes in a large bag already crumbled. I also use the Pillsbury Grands Jr. Buttermilk Homestyle Biscuits. They are the canned variety in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. There are 10 in a container; so you will end up with 40 bites. They fit great in a baking dish around the size of a 9″ X 13″. If you can’t find the Grands Jr. Biscuits, you can use Grands Biscuits. They come 8 in a can; so you will simply need to cut each biscuit into 5 pieces instead of 4 to get 40 bites.
If you have to use chunk Blue Cheese, this is the best way to crumble it.
You are now 3 ingredients away from “Food Nirvana”!!!
Sprinkle the blue cheese evenly over the bottom of a pan that has been brushed lightly with butter.
These are the biscuits cut into quarters.
Arrange the cut up biscuits that have been dipped in the melted butter evenly over the blue cheese.
Try to keep the biscuit pieces from touching. Drizzle with some of the remaining melted butter, saving enough to brush on the biscuit tops when they come out of the oven.
In September, Joel’s brother and his wife, Stuart and Patti, his mother, Helen and Joel and I went on our annual trip to visit Joel’s other brother, Neal, and his wife, Cherie, at their summer home in Victor, Idaho. When we were not eating out, we took turns cooking. This is the tray of finished Blue Cheese Cocktail Bites I made for appetizers for the dinner I cooked.
- 1 (12 ounce) can Pillsbury Grands Jr. Buttermilk Biscuits (or other non-flavored biscuits)
- About ½ cup good-quality blue cheese crumbles
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Lightly brush a 9" X 13" or a tad bit smaller casserole/serving dish with some of the melted butter.
- Evenly sprinkle the blue cheese crumbles over the bottom of the casserole.
- Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces.
- Using light pressure, roll each biscuit piece into a ball.
- Dip each ball into the melted butter.
- Arrange the butter coated pieces on top of the blue cheese crumbles. Try to keep the biscuit pieces from touching.
- Lightly drizzle some of the leftover melted butter over the bites. (Save enough butter to brush the tops of the bites when they come out of the oven.)
- Bake on the middle rack of the preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or until the tops are lightly golden brown.
- Remove from the oven.
- Lightly brush the tops of the bites with the remaining melted butter.
- Serve hot or at room temperature.
- Makes 40 bites.
Brenda I love the whole blog. Interesting,informative and great recipes.
These are AMAZING! If you love butter, blue cheese, and bread… GO FOR IT! The temptation is SO MUCH more fun when YOU GIVE IN! They are worth it.
So, I made these the other night and used a full cup of blue cheese which was definitely too much. I will stick to Brenda’s recipe next time. Our guests raved about the possible variations of this appetizer: we could make it “Italian style” using Parmesan/Mozzarella cheese and Italian herbs OR cheddar cheese with bacon bits…..YUM! Thank you Brenda.
A Mazingly good…and yes I could eat the whole batch myself! Always a winner at every gathering! Try them!
Thank you so much for the comment and the vote of confidence! Glad you liked them as much as I do. Please let me know if you try any of the other recipes.
Can you make these a day or two ahead of time? Your experience at your friends lake gone sounds enchanting!
I am not sure you can make these ahead of time. I would be afraid they would get mushy.
Can you prepare this the day before you bake them? Thx
Sure. Just cover tightly and refrigerate.