Weekend Mirths

With all of my busyness through the past week, I decided to have a quiet weekend. Actually, a quiet weekend descended upon me whether I wanted it or not-Jeff was away at work all Saturday and my generally fatigue and slight nausea meant that I wasn't going anywhere or doing anything.


So I baked. There were sweet potato biscuits for me and a layer cake for Jeff. And while the layer cake was positively, deliciously evil, you simply must try these sweet potato biscuits. Scrumptious! They have a nice balance of savory and sweet, which for me meant that I could eat them with honey drizzled all over them, or I could douse them with country gravy. Or eat them for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner (and I may or may not have done that). Not too heavy, but substantially layered make me think of a good ole Bob Evans biscuit with a touch of sweet potato and spice.


Sweet Potato Biscuits
adapted from recipe found here
Ingredients:

1 medium – large sweet potato, cooked, mashed, and cooled
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading and shaping
2 tablespoons light-brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp nutmeg
6 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/3 cup buttermilk (or 1/3 cup milk plus a dash of distilled vinegar)
cinnamon butter or unsalted butter for brushing

Method:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

In a large bowl, or in a food processor (I have one now!), mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs ranging from bread crumb size to pea size (that took about 3, good 2-second l0ng pulses with my food processor). Pour into a deep and wide bowl.

In a 2-cup liquid measure, pour in buttermilk, then measure in sweet potatoes until total volume equals 1 1/3 C. Mix together, then add to dry ingredients.

Get in there with your hands and gently knead the sweet potato mixture into the flour mixture. Try to do this gently and efficiently- you don't want the heat of your hands to melt the butter, nor do you want to overwork the dough. Turn out onto a clean surface, shape into a round, then roll out to 1-in thickness. Cut with a biscuit cutter, a glass, or cut into rugged squares. Place on a greased cookie sheet, and bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden on top, puffed up, and flaky in the middle. Brush tops with butter immediately after removing from oven.

Enjoy!