Snobby Grits and Biscuits That Can Fly

We had an Upside-Down Day yesterday and ate breakfast for dinner. A few months ago, in my favorite column from the AJC Food Section, "From The Menu Of...," in which recipes from local restaurants are printed, I found the recipe for Creamy-Dreamy White Cheddar Grits from The Flying Biscuit Cafe. I have, of course, adapted the recipe ever so slightly over the past couple of months, and I absolutely love it.

A few years ago, when I worked for a vintage clothing company, I spent about six months traveling quite a bit. Anytime I had a late night or early morning flight out of Atlanta, I would spend the night at a buddy's house in Little Five Points, only about 15 minutes from the airport. We always used these overnight visits to go eat somewhere, and Little Five has great places to choose from. The Flying Biscuit Cafe was only about two blocks from my buddy's house, and we walked there for brunch a time or two. I never tried the grits (what a shame!), but I ate lots of extremely large biscuits with vast amounts of apple butter, and I remember there being quite a lot of vegetarian selections to choose from. I just recently found out that The Flying Biscuit has put out a cookbook. Gonna HAVE to get me one of those.

CREAMY DREAMY WHITE CHEDDAR GRITS

• 3 cups water
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 1 and 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 1 cup quick grits
• 1/2 cup grated white cheddar cheese
• 2 Tbs unsalted butter

1. In a saucepan, combine water, half-and-half, salt and white pepper and bring to a boil.
2. Slowly pour grits into boiling water while whisking the entire time.
3. Reduce to low heat and continue to whisk often, until thick and completely smooth, about 10 minutes.
4. Add cheese and stir gently until cheese melts. Whisk again to combine.
5. Turn heat off and allow grits to rest 5 minutes.
6. Add butter and stir until completely smooth, silky and shiny.

Last night, on a lark, I decided to use 1/2 extra-sharp cheddar cheese and 1/2 Danish Fontina cheese. It added considerable depth to the taste and I will continue to try different cheeses now, although I would hate for my grits to get above their raising. Fat Baby LOVES these grits; last night he ate them with his fingers and then cleaned his hands off in his hair. Normally, that might not be much of an issue, but we served the waffles with 100% pure maple syrup, and I now know that the following is true:

maple syrup + butter + grits + baby hair = super glue.

Even after a bath after dinner, I was still picking grits out of his hair this morning.