za'atar + labneh biscuits

my parents like to say they don’t have favorite children. but do my siblings bake unbelievably flakey, buttery, & salty za’atar biscuits with a crunchy exterior and fluffy interior for them? I didn’t think so.

in other news, my mom kept calling these biscuits “sconces,” as in the light fixtures on the walls, intending to call them “scones” when they’re really biscuits. So now a lot of people think I made light fixtures for fun on my Friday afternoon. Oh well.

ZA’ATAR + LABNEH BISCUITS

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
10 tbsp. (1 1/4 sticks) cold butter + 1 tbsp. melted butter [salted or unsalted works!]
1 1/4 cups labneh, sour cream or greek yogurt*
1/4 cup za’atar + more for topping (my favorite is Z&Z)
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt, preferably kosher
1 tsp. sugar
3 tsp. honey
*learn how to strain any yogurt into labneh here

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 425ºF & line a baking tray with parchment paper.

Combine dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, sugar, and za’atar) together and mix with a fork until incorporated. Measure out labneh so it’s ready to go.

Cut cold butter into 1/2 inch square pieces (cold butter is essential if you want flakey layers!) and drop each square into the flour mixture so that no two squares are touching. Using your hands, toss the butter into the flour mixture, and then smush the butter between your fingers to flatten it a bit. You want the butter to work into the flour mixture, picking up pieces of flour and subtly forming a dough, without working the butter too much that it will start to warm from your hands.

After all the butter pieces are smushed into the flour, add the labneh and honey in the center. Whisk the labneh into the flour-butter mixture with a fork, bringing the dry flour from the sides into the labneh and smushing down with the back of the fork. A shaggy dough will begin to form.

Once the labneh is worked into the dough, turn it out on a clean surface and form into a rectangle, picking up any flour bits that may have fallen off. Fold one side of the rectangle over to the center, and then the other side, like you’re folding a letter (this helps add more layers!!). Flatten the dough again into a long rectangle, 2 inches thick.

Cut the dough into 10 equal pieces and place on baking tray. Brush biscuits with 1 tbsp. melted butter and top with extra za’atar. Bake for 17-20 minutes.

store: in an airtight container for 3 days or in the fridge for 1 week.

diet: vegetarian

eat it with: scrambled eggs, honey + butter, lemony sumac + dill labneh, by itself!