Sky-High Sweet Potato Biscuits

Tender, flaky biscuits can be yours- with a hint of sweetness from sweet potatoes! Whenever I want to make biscuits, instead of running to the store, I make these Sky-High Sweet Potato Biscuits with a few simple ingredients. Sweet potatoes, brown sugar, and buttermilk all lend richness and a soft sweetness to these lofty biscuits. These are great with a hearty stew or pot roast and are also great for breakfast with some fried ham or maple butter!

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For this recipe, you’ll essentially be mixing the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. 1 large sweet potato is all you’ll need for 6 large biscuits, which is about 1 overfilled cup of mashed sweet potatoes.

You can use a white sweet potato or even a purple sweet potato (ube) but I personally love the warm color of a classic orange sweet potato!

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To mash the sweet potato, there are several ways. You can boil the potato, but I find it to be a little time consuming to get a pot of water boiling, boil the potatoes, then drain them etc. Boiling also leaches a lot of the nutrients out of potatoes, so I prefer either of these methods below:

Steaming

Steaming is one of the most healthful ways to cook. You don’t need any additional oil, and the steaming method prevent nutrients from being pulled out foods.

The flavor of the potatoes will be kept intact since you’re not waterlogging them, and steaming keeps the vibrant color of foods very well, so that lovely orange color will stay put if you choose to steam!

My favorite way to steam is to set a bamboo steamer basket or steamer attachment into a pan and pour about an inch or two of water into the pan. Add a peeled, cubed sweet potato to the basket and cover. Bring the water to a rapid boil over high heat and steam the potato for 8-10 minutes until very tender.

Microwaving

Shock! Horror! Growing up my dad would never hesitate to vocalize his disdain for microwaved foods. He always leaned in favor of the oven as a superior reheating tool. He would probably shudder to find out his daughter has been microwaving potatoes for years.

It’s a myth that potatoes shouldn’t be microwaved. Microwaving saves an immense about of time and equipment to wash. What IS true is that microwaved potatoes are really only suitable for using in recipes, rather than served as an independent item on the table.

If you want a perfectly baked sweet potato, with a fluffy interior and that iconic crispy skin, you gotta use the oven!

To microwave a sweet potato, first wash and scrub the potato to remove any dirt. Carefully pierce the potato about 10 times all over with the tip of a sharp knife.

Wet a 2 paper towels and wring out some of the water so it’s damp. Wrap your potato until it’s cocooned in the paper towels (2 layers helps prevent a dry potato). Place the potato on a microwave safe dish and microwave for 4-5 minutes on high until easily pierced with a knife.

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A Note On Buttermilk

Buttermilk is sadly one of those ingredients that just doesn’t get too much airtime in my kitchen, although I did nail a tasty Rhubarb and Buttermilk Ice Cream over the summer! But its baking qualities are unmatched and a flaky, layered buttermilk biscuit is really what you want on the table during the holidays!

Buttermilk’s acidity mixes with the baking powder to help create that lofty height, and is a required ingredient in this recipe. That said, you can substitute the buttermilk with this emergency concoction:

1 part plain whole milk yogurt, 1 part water.

So for 1/2 a cup of buttermilk, you’ll need 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup plain yogurt. Mix the two really well until it’s runny and smooth. And that’s it! The acidity in the yogurt will act in the same way as the buttermilk and help to create amazingly tall biscuits!

Mixing Your Biscuit Dough

The key to any delicious biscuit is two fold: flaky layers and tall height. How do we achieve this? Ingredients obviously matter, but technique is what will make or break your biscuits.

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Factor 1: Flaky Layers

Layers are built in a biscuit when the fat and dough essentially separate during the baking process. The layers of dough “cook” in the oils above and below it to form distinct, separate layers.

This is achieved by rolling out the biscuit dough, folding it over in half, and then rolling it out again. This process of rolling and folding is repeated several times.

Another pro tip is to keep your grated butter cold! Keep it as cold as possible and avoid getting your hands too involved with the dough.

If possible, grate the butter and pop it in the freezer until ready to use. Using a biscuit cutter for the first step when cutting the butter into the flour, and then hand mixing toward the end will also help to encourage flaky layers!

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Factor 2: Tall Height

A biscuit should not be dense. We’re not making scones here! The tall height and and airy texture that biscuits should have is entirely dependent on how much you mix your dough.

Biscuit dough should look shaggy and almost borderline unmixed. Overmixing is the biggest pitfall in biscuit making and also one of the easiest mistakes to make, so always keep in mind that less is more when mixing your biscuits!

You may be wondering, how will I know when enough is enough?

You want dough that is shaggy, somewhat clumpy looking, but does not have any dry powdery bits of flour. When you push on the dough, it should not spring back and should instead give to the pressure and even crack a little bit.

What you don’t want is a smooth ball of dough that is springy and completely void of texture. Smooth dough = dense hard biscuits that rival hard tack. Nope!

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Shaping Your Biscuits

Biscuits rise somewhat in the oven, but they definitely don’t rise like bread does. That being said, you want to make sure your biscuits have some height to them before you pop them in the oven.

After doing the final folds on your dough, smooth it out somewhat into a rectangle you can work with. Using a cookie cutter, biscuit cutter, or even the rim of a drinking glass, cut out 6 biscuits from the dough.

The leftover dough can be reshaped, folded, and used for more biscuits.

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Top Tips For Perfect Sweet Potato Biscuits

Here’s a quick summary of everything you need to know if you’re rushing and need these biscuits on the table fast:

Don’t overmix the dough. Don’t overdo it- it will be the fatal blow to your biscuits! Shaggy, clumpy dough is good, smooth dough = bad.

Keep your butter cold. Freeze the butter stick before grating it. Then freeze the grated shavings until ready to use. Use a biscuit cutter to minimize hand heat transferring to the dough.

You can use yogurt/water to substitute for buttermilk. The ratio is 1 part yogurt, 1 part water. For 6 biscuits you need 1/4 cup of yogurt and 1/4 cup of water mixed until runny.

Microwave the sweet potato to save time. Nobody is going to notice anyways- just go for it!

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Sky-High Sweet Potato Biscuits Recipe

INGREDIENTS 

• 2 cups all purpose flour (240 g)
• 3 teaspoons baking powder (12.6 g)
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar (25 g)
• 1 teaspoon salt (4.2 g)
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped
• 8 tablespoons cold butter (114 g)
• ½ cup buttermilk (118 ml)
• 2 tablespoons melted butter, for brushing (30 ml)

INSTRUCTIONS 

• In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, brown sugar and salt. Set aside.
• Grate the cold butter over the flour mixture and using your hands or a biscuit cutter, rub the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs. Do this quickly so the butter doesn’t melt!
• Place the cubed sweet potato in a microwave safe bowl and cover with a damp paper towel. Microwave for 4-5 minutes until soft. Alternatively, you can place the sweet potato in a steamer basket with an inch of water and steam for 8 minutes until bright orange and soft.
• Mash the sweet potato with a fork until smooth. Mix in the buttermilk until combined.
• Stir the sweet potato mixture into the flour mixture and mix until a shaggy dough forms. Lumps and shags are ok! This will help to form the flaky layers.
• Turn the shaggy dough out onto a clean, floured surface and pat into a flat disk shape.
• Gently roll the dough out until about 1/2 inch thick, then fold the dough over in half.
• Roll the dough out and repeat the folding process again another 2 times. Be sure not to overwork the dough as this can result in hard, flat biscuits.
• Fold the dough up so that it is about 1 inch thick.
• Using a cookie cutter or rim of a glass, cut out 6 large biscuits (you may need to re-roll and fold the dough to get more surface area).
• Place the biscuits on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and brush the tops with melted butter.
• Bake the biscuits at 400F (204 C) for 15-17 minutes until golden and puffed up.
• Serve warm with butter and maple syrup.