Preheat the oven to 450°F. Place a rack in the middle of the oven and lightly grease a baking sheet or cast-iron skillet.
Combine the cheese and the pecans and set aside 2 tablespoons for topping the biscuits later. Combine the remaining cheese and pecans with the cream and stir until well combined and almost paste like.
To make the biscuits, stir together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Cut the butter into cubes and work it into the dough with your hands or a pastry cutter until well combined. Stir in the half and half until a shaggy dough is formed.
Pour the dough out on a floured surface and knead for a minute. The dough should be smooth and no longer wet. (You can sprinkle more flour on the surface if you find that it’s sticking.) Roll out the dough until it’s 1/4 of an inch thick.
Spread in the center of the dough the cheddar-pecan with cream mixture, then fold the dough over the filling until it’s contained.
Roll out the dough again until it’s 1/4-inch thick then fold over in half. Form the dough into a rectangle, then using a knife cut the dough into 8 equal squares.
Alternatively, you can use a round cutter to cut the biscuits from the folded dough. (If you go with round biscuits, you may have to gather the scraps and roll out again if you run out of room while cutting.)
Place the cut biscuits on the greased baking sheet close together (so they rise up, not out). Evenly sprinkle the remaining cheese and pecans over the tops then lightly salt. Bake on the middle rack for 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Serve warm.
Notes
For smaller bite-sized biscuits, you can cut the dough into 16 squares.