Sweet Potato Biscuits

This year for Thanksgiving, Jake and I joined my parents at their place in West Chester. My sister, brother-in-law, and their two kids were traveling to see Michael's family in Baltimore, so it was just the four of us (plus Toby) at my parents place. Being the gentlemanly folk we are, Jake and I offered to bring something with us, but as is the normal case, my forward-thinking parents already had almost everything taken care of. We were asked to bring wine, an hors d'oeuvre (we opted for these scrumptious jalapeño sausage treats, which we will be making again), and to pick up some good dinner rolls.

I decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to bake again, even though I technically already had this month (gold stars may be sent to my home address). My internet was being rather capricious that day, so it was on to the stack of magazines I've come to love so much.

Hours passed and I had made zero progress in picking a bread-y side, despite the piles of magazines surrounding me. I found a recipe for delicious fig and goat cheese cornbread cooked in a skillet, but was unsure if my parents liked figs. I also found a beautiful looking rye bread recipe, but it required a pre-ferment and a ferment and a whositwhatsitthing and a whole load of complication that takes almost a whole 24 hours to make. I WILL tackle this recipe at some point! Just not for Thanksgiving when so much else is happening. I finally narrowed it down to two - brioche buns OR sweet potato biscuits. Exhausted from the afternoon's task, I awoke Riley from her nap to pick between the two; however, she had no interest, and simply rolled back over, grumbling all the way. Luckily, Jake was quick to decide on the Sweet Potato Biscuits, so I noted the page of the brioche buns for another day, and put together my shopping list: one sweet potato. I already had everything else I needed!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my parents. My mom had TWO whole glasses of wine, which approximately quadruples the amount of wine I've seen her drink in my life. My dad made fantastic Manhattans. And we had a great time sitting around the table talking and laughing. The biscuits were very good, though I wish they had more of a sweet potato flavor to them. The recipe calls for 7 tablespoons of butter, but the Paula Deen in me decided to throw in the whole stick - after all, what would I do with that one little extra tablespoon....  I don't know how I would infuse more sweet potato flavor into the biscuits, as I worry that simply adding more sweet potato could alter the composition of the rolls in an unfriendly way. Definitely an easy recipe worth trying though!

Ingredients:

• One 1/2-pound sweet potato
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp light brown sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• One stick (8 Tbsp) cold unsalted butter, diced
• 1/3 cup buttermilk

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375°. Poke the sweet potato all over with a fork and bake for 45-60 minutes depending on the size of the potato, until tender. Peel and mash the potato. Set aside 3/4 cup of the mashed potato and let cool completely; reserve the rest for another use/eat it immediately with some cinnamon-sugar. Raise the oven temperature to 425°.

In a food processor, pulse the flour with the brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the buttermilk and the 3/4 cup of mashed sweet potato and pulse just until the dough comes together.

Turn the dough out onto a heavily floured work surface and knead 2 or 3 times, until smooth; the dough will be soft. Roll out the dough 1/4 inch thick and cut out eight 4-inch rounds. Arrange the sweet potato biscuits on a parchment paper–lined baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes, until golden brown. Serve hot.