Sweet Potato Biscuits #Thanksgiving recipe from Molly MacRae

 

We aren’t a marshmallow and sweet potato family. Sweet potatoes, yes, but tending more towards the savory. Roasted sweet potato spears with molasses and horseradish are a Thanksgiving and Christmas tradition at our house. Black bean and sweet potato burritos with sweet-spicy pickled red onions are a tasty option for vegetarians when you’re having a taco night. Later in the winter I’ll post recipes for curried sweet potato pasties and Moroccan sweet potato salad.

We love these biscuits, too. They’re wonderful with soups and stews and make an interesting change from white dinner rolls for a holiday meal. They do call for 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, but they don’t end up tasting like dessert (and the sugar can be omitted, if you like). Plus, there’s the nice little surprise of cayenne pepper to kick the biscuits up a notch. (The cayenne can be omitted, too.)

The recipe calls for 3/4 cup of mashed sweet potato, which is about 6 ounces. If you have leftover, plain mashed sweet potato, this is a great use for it. I never do, though, so I start with a whole potato that weighs about 12 ounces. That way I would have six ounces left that I could freeze for the next batch of biscuits. But, as usually happens, I give it to my husband who enjoys a healthy snack.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Adapted from Roots by Diane Morgan 

 

Ingredients

3/4 cup mashed sweet potato (or 1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed)

2 teaspoons salt, divided 

2 tablespoons brown sugar 

6 tablespoons butter or butter substitute 

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper 

1/3 cup buttermilk or 1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place one of the racks in the lower third of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or grease it).

Simmer the peeled, cubed sweet potato (with 1 teaspoon of the salt) until very tender but not falling apart. Drain, return to pan and set back on burner to evaporate excess moisture. Mash the potato and measure out 3/4 cup (save the rest of let someone eat it). Add the brown sugar to the still warm potato and stir to melt the sugar. Let cool. 

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, remaining teaspoon salt, and cayenne pepper. Cut in butter until butter pieces are no bigger than peas.

In a medium bowl, combine sweet potato and buttermilk or yogurt. Add sweet potato mixture to dry ingredients and mix just until well blended. 

Turn dough onto lightly floured board. If dough is sticky, knead in a little more flour. Pat dough into a circle or a rectangle 1/2-inch thick. If you made a circle, cut biscuits with a floured biscuit cutter and place 1/2-inch apart on the prepared baking sheet. Gather the scraps and cut more biscuits. If you made a rectangle (which saves time and re-rolling), cut the biscuits into squares, rectangles, or triangles with a knife or pizza cutter. Place biscuits 1/2-inch apart on prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, until biscuits bottoms are golden brown.   

💕click here for a free, printable pdf of the recipe💕

 

Take time this winter to curl up with a drink, a treat, and a good book. May I suggest a bit of armchair travel, too? 

Visit Ocracoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina, in the Haunted Shell Shop Mysteries.

 

Or travel to the Scottish Highlands in the Highland Bookshop Mysteries.

 

Spend time in northeast Tennessee in the Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries, two stand-alone mysteries, and a collection of short stories.

 

Or travel from Cape Cod on the east coast to Monterey on the west coast, with a stop in Ohio along the way in my very gentle mysteries written as Margaret Welch.

 

Happy reading! 

The Boston Globe says Molly MacRae writes “murder with a dose of drollery.” She’s the author of the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries and the Highland Bookshop Mysteries. As Margaret Welch, she writes books for Annie’s Fiction. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and she’s a winner of the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction. Visit Molly on Facebook and Pinterest and connect with her on Instagram or Bluesky.