Try these homemade Tim Hortons Cheese Tea Biscuitsโthey're soft, buttery, and super easy to make. You'll never have to worry about them being dropped from the menu again.
Can't get enough of Tim Hortons? Try my copycat Blueberry Muffins next!
๐ง About This Recipe
If you follow my blog regularly, you know I love recreating Tim Hortons recipes at home! Some of my favorites have been my homemade Timbits, Cream of Broccoli Soup, and Chili.
My copycat recipes always start with online research. Most companies list the ingredients for their products online, but I couldn't find anything for Tim Hortons' tea biscuits.
For this recipe, I started with a basic tea biscuit recipe that I found through several different cookbooks. After a few rounds of testing (and a few trips to Tim Hortons), I developed a combination that tastes really close to timmies!
๐ง Ingredients
To give the biscuits the layers of flakiness, it's important to use COLD ingredients. Mainly, we do not want the cheese and butter to dissolve into the flour.
- All-purpose flour: I almost always use all-purpose flour unless I'm cooking something super soft or fluffy that requires cake flour.
- Butter: You'll need a pastry cutter or two knives to cut the butter into the flour.
- Cheddar cheese: I recommend freezing the cheddar cheese beforehand. Make sure you shred it before you freeze it, or it'll be hard to shred later.
- Milk: I highly recommend using whole milk (3.25% fat) here, the flavor is always better.
- Baking powder: Two tablespoons gives the perfect amount of lift. I have tried using less, but the ingredients in cheese biscuits are quite heavy, so we need the extra lifting power.
- Sugar and salt: Obviously, you don't want to skip out on these unless you're someone who enjoys plain food.
๐ช Instructions
STEP 1: In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Use a pastry cutter or two knives to cut in the butter and cheese. Refrigerate the dough for 15 minutes.
STEP 2: Gently stir the milk into the chilled dough until it forms a scraggily dough. Be careful not to overmix. The dough should be very clumpy looking.
STEP 3: Dust your work surface with a generous amount of flour. Gather the dough into a ball with your hands, and use a rolling pin to flatten it into a 12 by 8-inch rectangle, approximately ยพ inch thick. Use a dough scraper or knife to cut the dough into triangles or squares.
STEP 4: Transfer the pieces to a greased baking sheet. Separate them slightly so they don't touch each other.
STEP 5: Bake at 400ยฐF for 15 to 17 minutes, or until the tops are light golden brown. If you want, you can brush the tops with melted salted butter after baking.
These biscuits will last about 7 days in the refrigerator or 3 days at room temperature. You can also freeze them for up to 3 months. When I eat them, I like reheating them in the air fryer so they're nice and crisp on the outside.
๐ Recipe
Tim Hortons Cheese Tea Biscuit Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- ยฝ cup butter
- 1 cup cheddar cheese (shredded)
- 1 cup milk
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Cut in the butter and cheese. Refrigerate the dough for 15 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 400ยฐF and grease a large baking sheet.
- Gently stir the milk into the chilled dough until it forms a scraggily dough. Be careful not to overmix.
- Dust your work surface with a generous amount of flour. Gather the dough into a ball with your hands, and use a rolling pin to flatten it into a 12 by 8-inch rectangle, approximately ยพ inch thick. Use a dough scraper or knife to cut the dough into triangles or squares.
- Use a dough scraper or knife to cut the dough into triangles or squares. Transfer the pieces to a greased baking sheet. Separate them slightly so they don't touch each other.
- Bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until tops are light golden brown. If desired, brush with melted salted butter immediately after removing from the oven. Enjoy!
YV
Delicious.. my fam likes this better than the timmies version. But as a person addicted to the cheese tea biscuit, I found these too buttery and cheesy in comparison. If I reduced the amount of butter, would they still turn out?
Grump
Hi YV, thanks for trying the recipe! You could try reducing the butter but the biscuits might come out denser. Maybe add a tiny bit more milk to compensate for the lost moisture.
Laura Ryan
I cant wait to try this recipe. What type of cheddar do you use in these? Mild, medium or old
Thanks
Grump
I used old cheddar, but honestly any of them will taste great!
Riad S
Great recipe, easy to follow and amazing results. I actually added some fresh, finely chopped jalapeno peppers to it. With the cheddar, it rocked!
Grump
Thanks Riad, glad you liked it! ๐
Tamara
I have made this recipe multiple times and it is magical every single time! A few months ago I added some chopped chives to the dough which was delicious. Today I had leftover prosciutto and green onions so I added that along with the cheese. These turn out great every time and I always look forward to the week ahead when I have made them! Thanks for an awesome recipe!
Abigail
Amazing recipe, my partner and I love it! We did find with the last batch that the kosher salt didn't blend in as well, so it still had a bit of a granular texture and an elevated salty texture.
Would it be okay to put a touch less salt?
Grump
Yeah you can put less salt. You could also measure the salt then grind it in a mortar and pestle so it distributes better. Another option is you could try heating the milk up, dissolving the salt in the milk, then let the milk cool down.
Rosalyn Burtch
These were very easy to make except I had to add more milk. So instead of just 1 cup, I used 1 1/2 cups. Other than that, they were soft and flakey and delicious!!
Leslie
What did I do wrong? I had to add almost a cup more milk to make these. In the oven now. We'll see.
Grump
How did you measure your flour? Generally, for baking recipes, I recommend to spoon and level the flour into your measuring cup as opposed to scooping it directly from the bag because scooping can compact the flour and cause you to overmeasure. Some people have found that you can overmeasure by 40% if your flour is compacted too much. This is a tip that I add to my newer recipes.. This recipe is actually pretty old so sorry that wasn't mentioned here.