Sweet Potato Biscuits

Buttermilk biscuits are about to get even better with a little help from a lovable orange root vegetable…the sweet potato! Just look at that beautiful orange color. These biscuits are the perfect dip-able, scoop-able, dunk-able accompaniment to your favorite breakfast, dinner, or really anytime snack!

Moist, buttery and slightly sweet with a very subtle flavor from the sweet potato. You can even pair them with some of the compound butters I have coming up in another post… so stay tuned!

Sweet Potato Biscuits
Yield: 9 two and half inch biscuits

• 2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 2 and 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons of light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup of unsalted butter, grated or cubed and chilled
• 1 cup of sweet potato puree*,chilled
• 1/2 cup of buttermilk, shaken
• 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter, melted

Directions

For The Sweet Potatoes

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Loosely wrap the sweet potato in tin foil (I used one large sweet potato) and place it on a small rimmed baking sheet. Bake the sweet potato until fork tender and cooked in the center. About 40 minutes to 1 hour. Allow the sweet potato to fully cool. Peel and puree the sweet potato in the food processor until smooth. Depending on the size of the sweet potato you may have to puree it in batches.

Measure one cup of potato puree and refrigerate until chilled.

* Note: You will want to make sure you have the puree made before starting the biscuits. I made the puree a day in advanced so that the puree was nice and chilled.

For The Biscuits

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, brown sugar and cayenne pepper. Give the flour mixture a quick stir to combine. Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter or two forks until crumbly and some pea sized pieces of butter remain. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture.

In a small bowl stir together the buttermilk and the sweet potato puree, until combined. Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Do not over mix.

With floured hands turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead very gently until the dough comes together. About 4-5 times. Pat the dough into a round disc with a 1-inch thickness. Using a 2.5-inch biscuit cutter, cut out the biscuits. Press the scraps together and cut out more biscuits.

Place the biscuits into the center of the cookie sheet so they form a square with the biscuits touching. I find this helps the biscuits to rise upwards more. Refrigerate the biscuits for 15 minutes.

After the biscuits have chilled brush the tops with some melted butter. Bake for 12-16 minutes and the biscuits are golden brown. Serve warm and enjoy!