Goat Cheese Chive Biscuits with Blood Orange Habanero Marmalade

These Goat Cheese Chive Biscuits with Blood Orange Habanero Marmalade are the perfect combination and so delicious, you'll want to make a meal of them!

(This recipe for Goat Cheese Chive Biscuits with Blood Orange Habanero Marmalade was originally posted in March 2012, but was updated with new photos in 2019).

Like I've mentioned about a million times before, if there was ever a year for learning new recipes and techniques, this is it. Biscuits are not new to me. They're one of my obsessions. But marmalade is. By the way, I really don't know the difference between marmalade, jam, jelly, and preserves, but I like the word "marmalade" the best and according to this handy chart, I do think this is a marmalade. I think? I'm still a little confused. And my head already hurts enough from learning how to actually make it. Really, it's not so tough- it's just a lot of steps for so few ingredients. But the results? Totally worth it. I want to make homemade marmalade all the time now. Or at least have an endless stock of homemade marmalade in my fridge at all times. Magically?

I'll also be learning a whole lot more this year. Why? Because I won a scholarship to the America's Test Kitchen Cooking School! What, might you ask, is that? Well, it's what it sounds like. Cooking school, taught by the amazing people at America's Test Kitchen, and all online. I'm going to learn all kinds of techniques, skills, and new recipes through following their direction, watching their videos, and asking them questions. I even already had the opportunity to chat with Bridget Lancaster on the phone! Not only that, but I'll also be writing a blog post for ATK's blog, The Feed, in April. It's going to be all about making pasta and, trust me, you'll want to see it. Because I'm sure it will be quite the adventure. Me + flour + not enough counter space= messes and hilarity. That's why you don't usually see my photo in cooking posts.

Anyway, onto this glorious recipe, which will likely be my final blood orange recipe for the season. Especially considering it's officially spring and set to be 70-something degrees in Boston today. It's a bittersweet farewell to blood oranges.

GOAT CHEESE CHIVE BISCUITS WITH BLOOD ORANGE HABANERO MARMALADE

I'm really not sure what my favorite part about this recipe is. Maybe it's the goat cheese in the biscuits. Maybe it's the blood oranges in the marmalade. Or maybe it's the fact that the marmalade has a really nice kick thanks to the habanero peppers. All I know is that these Goat cheese chive biscuits with blood orange habanero marmalade is a dream of a recipe and something everyone needs in their lives immediately.

If you've never made them before, you should know that biscuits are easy! And goat cheese biscuits are just as easy as plain biscuits, so you sure as heck may as well add goat cheese to your biscuits because it makes them infinitely better.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, black pepper, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt. Work the chilled and diced butter into the flour using your hands or a pastry blender, until it resembles coarse meal. Then blend the goat cheese and the chives in, too.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and the egg. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined, taking care not to over-mix.

Place dough on a lightly floured surface and knead just until dough comes together. If it's too sticky, you can add a little bit more flour. Pat dough into a round about ¾-inch thick. Using a biscuit cutter with a roughly 2 ¾-inch diameter (you can also use a drinking glass, circle cookie cutter, etc.), cut rounds out of dough and place them about 2 inches apart on a parchment paper or Silpat-lined baking sheet. Re-work the dough to continue cutting out rounds.

Bake biscuits for 18-21 minutes at 400 degrees, until they're just turning golden on top.

You can eat them warm or cool them on baking sheets. These goat cheese biscuits are delicious all on their own or with a little bit of butter, but they are also crazy amazing with the blood orange marmalade that's also included in this post. Make the marmalade ahead of time, so it's chilling in your fridge for all your blood orange habanero marmalade needs.

This recipe is a bit more complicated than the goat cheese biscuits. Well, at least the ingredient list is simple. It legitimately baffles me how so small an ingredient list can create such a project. Three ingredients! I loosely followed a recipe from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving (affiliate link).

Start by slicing the tops and bottoms off the blood oranges, so they can stand on their own. Aren't blood oranges just the happiest fruit ever?? They bring a little bit of brightness to an otherwise dreary winter!

Cut the oranges into quarters and peel them. Try to peel away as much of the membrane as possible. Then put peels in a large pot of cold water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil for 10 minutes, Drain and cover with cold water again and boil for another 10 minutes. The peels will begin to soften!

Drain and run the peels under cold water, so they can be handled. Using a spoon, scrape all that white pith out from the inside of the peel. I enjoyed this part. It was actually kind of satisfying. Now, chop the peel into thin strips.

And peel all the remaining membrane off the oranges. This was my least favorite part. And definitely the part that made this process take way longer than it should have. Snooze. It also got blood orange juice all over my kitchen wall.

Now you can put all that fruit in a large pot. And squeeze the juice out of the membrane into the pot, too, before you discard it. Add the chopped peel and 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and then reduce heat and boil gently for about 30 mins. Peel should be very, very soft. Remove the pot from the heat and pour mixture into a large heat-proof measuring cup. If you don't have 3 cups of fruit mixture, add more water to measuring cup until you do. If you have over 3 cups, discard anything over.

Put this mixture back into the pot and here's where we get to the good part. Stir in the sugar and chopped habanero pepper and bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, while stirring.

Continue to boil, stirring constantly, until the mixture reaches 220 degrees, which is the "gel stage" and should take about 30 minutes. You'll notice the mixture will be gelly-ish, but not totally solid. It will firm up once you put it in the fridge.

You can either can your marmalade (using proper canning technique) or you can simply put your marmalade in a clean jar.

And refrigerate right away. My recipe made about a jar and a half of blood orange habanero marmalade.

Phew. That was fun. But it's also likely the last time I'll make marmalade/jelly/jam/preserves for a little while. I needed a major nap after that one. But now that I know the technique, I think my next time will be a breeze. Especially if I use something other than citrus fruit. I just hate sectioning citrus and dealing with the pith and membrane and all that stuff.

But, um? It was worth it. Especially when I spread the blood orange habanero marmalade on the goat cheese chive biscuits. Literally heaven on a plate. And honestly? I'd be totally happy eating biscuits and marmalade for a meal. What else do I need in life??

Seriously though, I don't even know where to start with this one. The biscuit was certainly a treat on its own. The goat cheese and buttermilk added a tangy kick that's always welcome in biscuits. In my mind, there's nothing worse than a bland biscuit. Hello, what's the point? This biscuit had a definite point.

But when you slather the biscuit (yes, I love the world SLATHER) with a little blood orange habanero marmalade, you're taken to a whole different world. It's the sweetness of the orange, mixed with the slight bitterness from the peel and the spicy kick from the peppers that would turn even the blandest biscuit into a delight.

So, make one or both. It doesn't matter because you'll be happy either way. But you might want to get on this whole blood orange thing ASAP. I don't know what the weather is like in your neck of the woods, but it's just about time to transition to strawberries, blueberries, and cherries around here. Which makes me really happy, but also a little bit sad about the departure of blood oranges. Luckily, this blood orange habanero marmalade should be OK for about three weeks in your fridge.

Both homemade biscuits and homemade marmalade are going to be happening again in my life soon. I just need a little bit of a break. Hand me the jar of marmalade and a spoon, please!

Happy Spring! What will you miss most about winter?? Come on, there must be something!

If you're still trying to make the most of blood orange season, be sure to check out my recipes for Blood Orange Mussels or Blood Orange Habanero Cocktails. I'm also loving these Roasted Blood Orange Waffles from Blue Bowl Recipes.

📖 Recipe

Goat Cheese Chive Biscuits with Blood Orange Habanero Marmalade

These Goat Cheese Chive Biscuits with Blood Orange Habanero Marmalade are the perfect combination and so delicious, you'll want to make a meal of them!

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Course: Side

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Blood Orange Marmalade, Goat Cheese Biscuits, Spicy Marmalade

Prep Time: 45 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Marmalade Chill Time: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 2 hours hours 5 minutes minutes

Makes: 12 biscuits

Author: Sues

Ingredients

Goat Cheese Chive Biscuits

• 2 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 ½ tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and chopped into small pieces
• 3 oz. crumbled goat cheese
• ¼ cup chopped chives
• 1 ¼ cup buttermilk
• 1 large egg

Blood Orange Habanero Marmalade

• 4 blood oranges
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoon chopped habanero peppers

Instructions

Goat Cheese Chive Biscuits

• Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat. 
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, black pepper, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt.
• Work the butter into the flour using a pastry blender or your hands, until it resembles coarse meal. Blend the goat cheese and the chives in, too.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk and egg. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined, taking care not to over-mix.
• Place dough on a lightly floured surface and knead just until dough comes together. If it's too sticky, you can add a little bit more flour. Pat dough into a round about ¾-inch thick. Using a biscuit cutter with a roughly 2 ¾-inch diameter (you can also use a drinking glass, circle cookie cutter, etc.), cut rounds out of dough.  
• Place biscuits about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet and re-work dough to continue cutting out biscuits.
• Bake biscuits for 18-21 minutes, until they’re just turning golden.
• Serve warm or cool biscuits on baking racks.

Blood Orange Habanero Marmalade

• Chop the tops and bottoms off the oranges, so a little bit of flesh is showing. Cut oranges into quarters and peel, working to peel away as much of the membrane as possible.
• Put peels in a large pot of cold water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil for 10 minutes, Drain and cover with cold water again and boil for another 10 minutes. The peels will begin to soften.
• Drain and run the peels under cold water, so they can be handled. Using a spoon, scrape all that white pith out from the inside of the peel. Chop the peel into thin strips.
• Peel the remaining membrane off the oranges and put the fruit in a large pot. Squeeze the juice out of the membrane into the pot, too, before you discard it. Add the chopped peel and 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and then reduce heat and boil gently for about 30 mins. Peel should be very, very soft.
• Remove the pot from the heat and pour mixture into a large heat-proof measuring cup. If you don't have 3 cups of fruit mixture, add more water to measuring cup until you do. If you have over 3 cups, discard anything over.
• Put this mixture back into the pot stir in granulated sugar and chopped habanero pepper.  Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. 
• Continue to boil, stirring constantly, until the mixture reaches the “gel stage" at about 220 degrees, which should take about 30 minutes. You’ll notice the mixture will be jelly-ish, but not totally solid. It will firm up once you put it in the fridge.
• You can either can your marmalade (using proper canning technique) or you can simply put your marmalade in a clean jar and refrigerate.

Notes

• Blood orange marmalade recipe makes about 24 oz. marmalade and should keep for about 3 weeks in an airtight container in your fridge (if you don't can it).
• Marmalade recipe is adapted from The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.

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