Easy Cheesy (Way Better than Red Lobster's) Biscuits

This is an adaptation of Cooks Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen's drop biscuit recipe. In this case I added cheese and some spices. Other additions that would be great would be chopped pickled jalapenos, scallions, cooked bacon.

Ingredients
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese (coarse grate or cut into small 1/8 inch cubes)
1 cup cold buttermilk (or reconstituted powdered buttermilk*)
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 tablespoons melted butter mixed with 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp dried parsley for brushing biscuits

*If substituting with powdered buttermilk, mix buttermilk powder with dry ingredients and water with wet ingredients.

Directions

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 475°F.

Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt and garlic powder. Combine buttermilk and 8 tablespoons melted butter in separate bowl.

Dry Ingredient Mixture

Melted Butter and Water (I used powdered buttermilk)

Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients, add shredded cheese and stir until just incorporated (don't overmix) and batter pulls away from sides of bowl.

Cubed Cheese Added to Batter

Dough Mixture

 In this case, I separated the mixture into two batches - one that's a "grown up" version where I mixed in 1/4 cup chopped green onions and about 1 teaspoon finely chopped serrano.

Green Onion and Serrano for "Grown Up" 1/2 Batch

The "Grown Up" Batter Mixture

Using greased 1/4-cup dry measure, scoop level amount of batter and drop onto parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet (biscuits should measure about 2 1/4 inches in diameter and 1 1/4 inches high).

Use Ice Cream Scoop for Smaller Biscuits

Repeat with remaining batter, spacing biscuits about 1 1/2 inches apart.

Bake until tops are golden brown and crisp, 12 to 14 minutes. Watch the bottom of the biscuits, with all the butter and cheese, they burn easily. You may want to rotate your cookie sheets between the top two racks of your oven.

Brush biscuit tops with remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter. Transfer to wire rack and let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Basting of Biscuits