Sweet Potato Biscuits
Y’all some biscuits! Best cat call I’ve ever heard and straight from the ATL. We’re in Atlanta right now after a wedding in Connecticut (one week shy of Sandy) and to spend some time with my family. I thought that these sweet potato biscuits that my daughter and I made “together” would be appropriate considering our location.
I actually made these guys in Italy, with the precious remains of some sweet potatoes that I had bought in Rome. The rare treat of finding sweet potatoes, combined with their outrageous price, I wasn’t going to waste even a smidgen of those babies. Making biscuits seemed like them best place to use them. I knew my daughter would enjoy them, and was a great deal of help preparing them, at least it appears that way.
They were good, though I would go easy on the salt. When making American recipes I often forget that I am using sea salt, which is not what the average American chef uses in their recipes, it is fancy over here, whereas it is what you find in the grocery stores in Italy. It is exceptionally salty stuff.
Sweet Potato Biscuits
adapted from epicurious.com
- 1 3/4-pound red-skinned sweet potato (yam), peeled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon (packed) dark brown sugar
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch of cayenne pepper
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, plus 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1/3 cup chilled buttermilk
Cook sweet potato in medium saucepan of boiling salted water until tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain, cool, and mash.
Position rack in lower third of oven; preheat to 425°F. Butter bottom and sides of 9-inch cake pan with 1 1/2-inch-high sides.
Whisk flour and next 5 ingredients in large bowl. Add cubed butter to flour mixture; toss to coat and rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Whisk 3/4 cup mashed sweet potatoes and buttermilk in medium bowl. Add to flour mixture; toss with fork. Gather mixture in bowl, kneading until dough comes together. Turn dough out onto floured work surface and pat into 1-inch-thick round. Using 11/2-inch round biscuit cutter, cut out biscuits, flouring cutter after each cut. Gather scraps; pat into 1-inch-thick round. Cut out additional biscuits (do not reuse scraps more than once).
Arrange biscuits side by side in prepared cake pan. Brush with melted butter. Bake until puffed and golden on top and tester inserted into center biscuit comes out clean, about 22 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in pan and serve.
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Italicious 