I had to thank the neighbors. You see, we've had quite the blizzard season here in Michigan, and last night we got another foot (!) of snow. Since we hadn't fully cleared our driveway (ahem) from the last few blizzards, the car was buried. We woke up and knew that today was going to be one long shoveling blitz.

View of the lake from my kitchen window. Note that the snow is almost up to the window, on the deck

And then. Our lovely neighbor came over with his Enormous Snowblower and cleared the way (and in the process, we uncovered our car). Thank you, thank you, thank you. Since I'd much rather bake then shovel, I headed back inside and whipped up these warming babies.

The genius of this recipe is that it is so open to variations. Don't like cheese? Leave it out! Like spicy? Add it in! Need different shapes? Go ahead!

Buttermilk Ranch Cheesy Onion Pull Apart Bread Recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter, divided (1 stick cubed, 1/2 stick left alone), plus 2 T melted butter
1 large sweet onion, minced
2 t poppy seeds
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup coarsely shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
2 T fresh parsley, minced
2 cups flour, plus more for dusting (I use white wheat, you can choose what kind of flour you want)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1-2 T ranch powder (depending on how much ranch flavor you want)
pinch salt
1 cup buttermilk (Don't have any? Use 1 c milk with 1 t lemon juice, let it sit for 5 minutes. Or use 1 cup milk and buttermilk powder, to the recipe of the buttermilk powder you use)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400°.

Spray or butter your baking container(s): bread-loaf size metal loaf pan, muffin tins, mini loaf pans, or mini muffin tins.

In a large frying pan, melt 1/2 stick of uncubed butter. Add the chopped onion to the skillet and cook, stirring, over moderate heat until soft and slightly browned in places. Add in the poppy seeds, salt, and pepper. (This would be a great time to add some bacon?). Remove from heat. Cool slightly (you could put it outside in a snow bank like I did. And then have to warm it up a little because it froze.).

In your food processor, pulse the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, ranch powder, and salt). Add the cubed butter and pulse until it is the size of small peas. Add the buttermilk and pulse only a few times, until a soft dough forms.

Scrape the dough out onto a well-floured work surface and knead 2 or 3 times.

Roll or pat the dough into a large rectangle. Don't worry about edges.

Sprinkle the onion mixture on top, then the parsley, then the cheese.

Now your imagination comes in. What shapes of pans do you have? You'll want to slice the dough and stack them, or roll it over and slice it - your end goal is to have layers of biscuity goodness, with the insides not spilling out.

Stack the pieces into your baking containers - smaller ones for mini muffin tins, larger pieces for muffins, same size for a small loaf pan, a larger set of layers for a large bread tin. I put my extras into a small cast iron pan.

Brush the tops with the melted 2 T of butter.

Bake the loaf in the oven for 10-30 minutes, depending on the size of your baking containers, until the cheesy goodness is golden and risen.

Theoretically, let the bread cool for at least 5 minutes before popping them out of the tins and digging in. In reality, it's pretty hard to resist the melty cheese, soft onions, and the crisp biscuit edges.

Run some over to the neighbors, run back home, enjoy.

For the neighbors

IF you have any leftovers (ha!), they are really good cold.

Variations:

No Cheese, Spicy
My husband is allergic to cheese. I added in hot pepper flakes and some sri racha.

Italian
Skip the ranch, add oregano. Top with Italian dressing and mozzarella, sprinkle a little parmesan on top after you've brushed the tops with butter.

French
Skip the ranch. Use French Thyme and smoked Gouda.

Curry
Skip the ranch, use a curry powder instead. Use a soft, mild white cheese (muenster?).

Buffalo
Keep the ranch. When you have your dough rolled out, slather on some buffalo hot sauce (or Frank's Red Hot Sauce) and use a mixture of a soft white cheese (such as Monterey Jack) and Blue Cheese. Sprinkle with celery salt, if desired.

Do you have any variations you'd like to try?

Adapted from Food & Wine