Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Sweet Potato Biscuits – Before or After

I originally planned for these sweet potato biscuits to be this year’s Thanksgiving leftover recipe, but they came out so well, I decided to upgrade them, and I’m now officially suggesting you make these as one of the centerpieces for your feast. The downside of that plan is that you’ll have to share them with your guests.

Adding things like mashed sweet potatoes can cause all sorts of issues in a biscuit recipe, since they need to take the place of some of your “wet” ingredients, and considering how much thicker they are than something like buttermilk, over-mixing the dough can occur. By the time the potato mixture is incorporated, you can develop too much gluten, which can make biscuits tough.  

So, to protect against that, we’ll do most of the mixing while we form and fold our dough on the work surface. Not only does this make for a tender biscuit, but as you saw, we also get lots of beautifully buttery layers.

These are amazing with just plain butter, but for a little seasonal twist, I made a pomegranate spread, and have explained how to do that below. No matter what you serve this with, I really do hope you give these amazing sweet potato biscuits a try soon Enjoy!


Ingredients for 8 large or 12 normally sized Sweet Potato Biscuits:
1 1/2 cup mashed orange sweet potatoes (cooked in well-salted water, drained thoroughly)
3 1/4 cups *self-rising flour 
(*if using all-purpose flour, add 4 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1 1/2 tsp fine salt)
1 rounded tablespoon brown sugar
12 tablespoons ice cold butter, grated in
1/2 cup buttermilk

For the pomegranate spread:
4 tablespoons room temp butter
1 teaspoon pomegranate syrup, aka pomegranate molasses (you can make your own by reducing juice until it thickens)
1 teaspoon fresh pomegranate juice, for a better color
fresh pomegranate seeds to garnish

28 comments:

billspassionatelover said...

WOW...My creative Culinary Crush has just CRUSHED it again with these magnificent looking sweet potato biscuits...The photo needs to be made into a poster... : )

Unknown said...

I’m wondering if I can make this with leftover sweet potato casserole.

Amethyst Samia said...

I imagine pumpkin would also be an amazing ingredient with all the traditional pumpkin spice ingredients. Only thing that could be better in my opinion would be cranberries! You can NEVER have too many cranberries! Thanks for another amazing recipe Chef John. You are very much appreciated. ❤️❤️❤️

Unknown said...

how far ahead can we make these? It's T -24hrs (T is for turkey)

Regi on the Road said...

Just in time ... I can hardly wait.

Anonymous said...

I'm trying these right now. But I want to do them again with purple sweet potatoes. Imagine around Halloween handing out orange and purple biscuits. ;)

FSB said...

Memories of your scones recipe... a family hit.

Unknown said...

I made them. they were good, a little dense with the sweet potato. they actually tricked my mind into thinking they were filled with cheese, but the potato was healthier.
I forgot the brown sugar, and thinking more potato flavor would have come out with it in there.

Audra Caton said...

I just found your website/blog. Besides what seems to be great recipes (I am trying them this weekend) you are very informative and enjoyable/humorous to listen to. I am a pretty seasoned home cook (family of 4 grown men + myself),so everything is critiqued. My oldest also went through culinary school, yet somehow. he's the easiest to please. I was also wondering how to sign up for regular posts to the site. I dont seem to see a signup area for emails and such.

Thank you & to your health

Audra Caton

Christian said...

I am going to be trying these today for my thanksgiving dinner. Thank you Chef John for your wonderful recipes, my whole family loved them

Bruce said...

This recipe sounds delicious! I'm going to make them this weekend. Happy Thanksgiving Chef John. You are high on my gratitude list.

Poingat Opinion said...

These were perfect! I used 1 Tablespoon of BlackStrap Molasses and 1/2 Tablespoon of Sorghum Molasses instead of brown sugar. Also I used the European style Butter. It was delightful as our bread for Thanksgiving.

Sincerely, Alice said...

This looks incredible!

Chevy said...

Food wish- something with just a disgusting amount of cilantro. Or just some. And I'll do the rest...

www.lifeprepared.com said...

I couldn't stop laughing after your mutant biscuit comment. Thanks for being awesome! I can't wait to try these.

sianifairy said...

These were the best biscuits :) I laminate my basic biscuits already, but the different technique made that thick sweet potato really work. Have also just tried it to encase a Brie wheel to bake, with the other half of the dough to make tiny biscuits alongside....so good. Thank you, Chef John!

TheLeakingTap said...

Chef John you have taught me to be such a better cook!
I was hoping you could put together a video for British Mince Pies? I'm making a good wishes Christmas Dinner and would love.love to serve these as a desert :)

dandelion said...

Ohhh I'm going to make these for mini ham sweet potato biscuits for Christmas Eve! Thank you, chef. I have a request too.

I'm not sure how many people saw a video you made several years back. It was an hors-d'oeuvres platter that was clear glass and had a grapevine wreath underneath it for height. I sure wish you would repost that video. I loved the idea of it and how pretty it turned out.

Unknown said...

I THOUGHT YOU SOLD TO ALLRECIPIES..? I LIKED IT THERE BECAUSE I COULD PRINT INSTRUCTIONS....I GUESS ILL HAVE TO BRING MY TABLET TO THE KITCHEN..

Unknown said...

Hi Chef John, I did this for our friends Pre-Christmas party and it was a massive hit, now I want to do it for Christmas but would have loads to do on the day, so I am wondering at what point would be the best place to stop so that I can get warm biscuits with dinner? I am thinking of doing it all a few hours beforehand and leaving the biscuits already cut and prep on the baking sheet and just brush the butter and bake it about 40 mins before dinner time, would that work, leaving the biscuits on the baking sheet for a few hours?

Unknown said...

Hi Chef John, I did this for our friends Pre-Christmas party and it was a massive hit, now I want to do it for Christmas but would have loads to do on the day, so I am wondering at what point would be the best place to stop so that I can get warm biscuits with dinner? I am thinking of doing it all a few hours beforehand and leaving the biscuits already cut and prep on the baking sheet and just brush the butter and bake it about 40 mins before dinner time, would that work, leaving the biscuits on the baking sheet for a few hours?

jubjubbibrd said...

I tried these. They are delicious!

Boudico said...

Hi, can someone give me a weight measurement for the butter. My first try came out way to fatty. Thx

Unknown said...

So Yummy. I opted to forego the sugar and instead milked a carrot into the batter. Next time I’ll use sugar.

Erika said...

I am about to cook these now, I’m waiting for my sweet potatoes to cook. I’m going to glaze a butter honey mixture on top of them before and after they go in the oven. ���� wish me luck.

Erika said...

I am about to cook these now, I’m waiting for my sweet potatoes to cook. I’m going to glaze a butter honey mixture on top of them before and after they go in the oven. ���� wish me luck.

Unknown said...

Can you bake the potatoe or it needs to be boiled?

Pinky Barrister said...

These look great! Just wondering—Could these be made ahead, cut and frozen, then baked straight from the freezer? Would make Thanksgiving prep easier.