This is one heck of a sweet potato biscuit recipe. They may not be the prettiest to look at (my fault) but they certainly are delicous.
Soft and creamy textured with flaky layers, these buttery biscuits satisfy like a cake. Using canned sweet potatoes makes them easy to prepare at a moment’s notice.
Sweet Potato Biscuit Recipe
The easiest way to make these is as a “drop biscuit” (see below) or you can make them in whatever shape you want.
2 cups flour
1 TBS baking powder
1 tsp salt
pinch of cinnamon
2 TBS homemade brown sugar, packed
6 TBS cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
two (15oz) cans sweet potatoes in light syrup, drained and mashed** If using whole sweet potatoes see below.
melted butter to brush on baked biscuits
PREHEAT oven to 425 degrees. Get out a sharp 2 inch biscuit cutter, and line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.
Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and spice together in a bowl. Add the brown sugar and stir to incorporate, making sure there are no lumps. Drop in the butter and use your fingers to coat it with flour.
Quickly, using your fingertips for a pastry blender, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly. You’ll have pea sized pieces and everything in between; and that’s just right.
Add the sweet potatoes to the bowl, and with a fork, toss and gently turn the ingredients until you have a soft dough. Knead gently – 3 or 4 turns – to bring everything together.
Lightly dust a work surface with flour and turn out the dough. Dust the top very lightly with flour and roll it with a pin until it is about 1/2 inch high.
Use a square biscuit cutter (or a glass) and cut out as many biscuits as you can. Use a spatula and gently transfer them to a baking sheet. Gather the scraps together, working as little as possible, and pat out to 1/2 inches high, cutting out as many biscuits as you can.
At this point, the biscuits can be wrapped tightly and frozen for up to 2 months. Bake without defrosting – just add two more minutes to the cooking time.
Bake for 14 to 18 minutes or until they are puffed and golden brown. Transfer to a cooling rack – when cooled a bit, they are have more sweet potato flavor. Brush with melted butter. Give them 10 to 15 minutes on the rack before serving.
**This is almost 2 lbs sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed. Using the real thing? Bake 2 large sweet potatoes until fork inserted into the potato goes through easily. Cool and proceed with recipe.
These freeze well too. Make sure you serve them with the maple butter below.
Maple Butter
1/2 to 1 stick softened unsalted butter
1 TBS to 2 TBS pure maple syrup
dash of cinnamon
Whip together and serve with warm sweet potato biscuits.