Sweet Potato Biscuits
By Kim Morgan • Aug 10th, 2008 • Category: Bread •
Being awakened by the smell of breakfast in the kitchen while I got ready for school was an everyday occurrence. My entire family sat at the table together for breakfast and then again for dinner. In today’s fast passed lives most families don’t even sit at the same dinner table anymore.
Breakfast has always been my favorite meal of the day. It is also the meal that I skip most as I rush out the door grabbing a cup of coffee to take with me to work. Making time for breakfast once again needs to be a priority in my life for good health and good send-off.
My daughter Meredith and I have a secret we share and guard- that is till now. One of our favorite outings is to go for a late dinner at IHOP. She orders the Banana Caramel Nut French Toast with a bowl of grits and hash browns. I on the other hand order the Steak Omelet, with a side of cornmeal pancakes.
So, last Sunday I made us both a big breakfast that included Sweet Potato Biscuits with a recipe from Martha Hall Foose’s delightful cookbook filled with enchanting stories, photos and recipes. Every time I pick up her book I don’t know where to start, it all looks and sounds so good.
Two sweet potatoes in the refrigerator along with her mouth watering image and a craving for biscuits made Sunday’s choice easy though. It was a wise decision as they were a treat that morning and reheated. That says a lot as biscuits as they usually don’t reheat well. These were just as good the next day. Of course along with a slather of sweet butter, I globbed on a hefty spoonful of my homemade strawberry preserve stash. I just knew my strawberry preserves would come in handy.
Follow her instructions and you won’t be sorry. I took a short cut boiling the sweet potatoes and not measuring carefully and was sorry for my lackadaisical baking. I approached this recipe as if I was cooking rather than baking, that usually doesn’t work out for the better.
You could certainly make these smaller and reduce the cooking time, as these were quite large if you want to get fancy. Serve them simply with butter and jam, ham or as Martha has done -with smoked duck for a more sophisticated version. Whatever you do, just make them and serve them.
Sweet Potato Biscuits
Martha Hall Foose; Screen Doors and Sweet Tea
1 cup mashed baked sweet potato (about 2 medium)
2/3 cup whole milk
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Grease a baking sheet and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, mix the sweet potato, milk and butter.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder (I used my homemade version of baking powder), sugar and salt.
- Gently mix the dry ingredients into the sweet potato mixture to form a soft dough.
- Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until a deep golden orange tinged with brown.
- Serve warm or let cool on a wire rack.
- Makes 12 generous size biscuits.
Kim Morgan is the aspiring writer, photographer & passionate cook of ayankeeinasouthernkitchen.com; she is currently cooking Southern food, one stick of butter at a time.
Email this author | All posts by Kim Morgan
Those biscuits are very tempting! I love sweet potatoes, so they would certainly please me!
Cheers,
Rosa
It seems you and I were on the same wavelength today! These are beautiful. I have never had the pleasure of a sweet potato biscuit but I will have to give this a try!
These sound fantastic - gorgeous photos, too! I’ve really enjoyed other sweet potato pastries before, so I can just imagine how flaky and flavorful these must be. I definitely want to try them soon!
I’m making these tonight since I happen to have a few sweet potatoes lying around. How lovely! Thanks for the recipe and the beautiful pictures.
These seriously have my mouth watering. I have had a love for sweet potatoes pop up in the last year, and this would be a great way to eat them!
deeelightful! and so perfect with that jam!
your secret is shockingly similar to (one of) mine, except i go to ihop for the harvest grain n’ nut pancakes. so good.
These look wonderful. Now I know what to do with the leftover baked sweets!
I’m making these this weekend. I can’t get enough of biscuits, and I can’t think of anything tastier than waking up to a big pile of them!
In college, we would go to IHOP until 4 a.m. because it was the only place to go! I cringe now when I think of how much I ate late at night.
They seam to have a very satisfing texture! Aren’t sweet potatoes great things?
They look wonderful! I can understand why they would make the perfect pancake!
These look scrumptous! Look how soft they look! The pictures just make you want to reach out and grab it!
Sweet potato biscuits sound great!
Oh man these look good! I would love to bite into a warm biscuit of yours!
I was sold when I saw sweet potatoes…I’m now making a wish: I wish I could find these on my kitchen table tomorrow morning for breakfast
You’re right, we shouldn’t neglect the meal that sets us up on our feet in the morning.
Oooh, these look fantastic! I will definitely have to make them…thanks for sharing the recipe!
I stumbled upon your blog via FoodGawker. I can’t wait to try these sweet potato biscuits! What a fantastic idea!
Holy smokes. I’m seriously jonesing for that smoked duck with sweet potato biscuits now. What a fabulous idea and what fabulous biscuits. I love sweet potatoes but am often at a loss how to prepare them. We usually end up with roasted sweet potatoes.
Your biscuits look heavenly. I just love sweet potatoes and they give these biscuits such a gorgeous color. I think I have to buy that book now. Thanks for the nudge!
I love sweet potatoes and I love biscuits. So this is right up my alley! Thanks for posting this recipe.
you’re killing me ova heya
sweet potato biscuits
yes yes yes
but ihop?
you owned up to ihop
that’s big…
[...] Sweet Potato Biscuits from A Yankee in a Southern Kitchen [...]
Served these biscuits with ham and apple butter for my daughter’s birthday- oh boy, were they good! Thank you for sharing your recipe- it’s a winner!
If you really want a treat try these with smoked turkey of roasted chicken, chipolte and roasted tomatoes.
Thanks for sharing. nice pictures. I take your recipe and can’t wait to try it.