CakeSpy Note: I was super excited to receive a review copy of the awesome new book Biscuits by Jackie Garvin in the mail. I mean, everyone loves biscuits. But I might just love biscuits slightly more than the average bear.
In particular, there was a recipe that caught my eye for sweet potato biscuits. This brought back some big-time carb-filled memories of the sweet potato biscuits I used to buy every day at Fairway in New York City, when I lived there. They were roughly the size of your head plus mine together, and while in one regard they were supermarket-caliber biscuits, there was just something about them that kept me coming back. So I've always taken an interest in sweet potato biscuits in the media.
These ones are stellar and worth your time, people. But I'll let you read it yourself, in this sweet excerpt from the book.
Headnote:
The goodness created when sweet potatoes marry homemade biscuits is the stuff about which movies are made. The flavors of sweet potato and spices bring personality to the biscuits without being overpowering. The biscuits are more like your favorite cousin and not like your least favorite great uncle.
Sweet Potato Biscuits
Yield: about 24 (2½ inch) biscuits
3 cups self-rising flour
¼ cup light brown sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ cup unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
1 average-sized sweet potato, baked, cooled and peeled
1 cup half-and-half
Preheat oven to 450.
Mix together flour, and next four ingredients. Cut in butter until flour mixture resembles coarse ground meal.
Add sweet potato. Mix with dry ingredients.
Pour in milk and mix, with spoon or hands, until incorporated. Dough will be wet and sticky.
Turn out dough onto a well-floured surface. Keep sprinkling flour on dough until it’s no longer sticky and holds its shape. Roll out to 1-inch thick. Cut with 2½-in. biscuit cutter dipped in flour.
Place 1 inch apart on a sheet pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray or covered with a baking mat. Brush tops with cooking oil or butter.
Bake in a 450° preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until tops are golden brown.
Serve with Cinnamon Honey Butter.
Cinnamon Honey Butter
To make, combine:
- ½ cup softened unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon honey
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon