By Yewande Komolafe
- Total Time
- 2 hours 10 minutes
- Rating
- 4(525)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Chunks of baked sweet potato enhance warm, tender and flaky biscuits, which also get a savory lift from sliced scallions. To achieve distinct biscuit layers, an integral characteristic of this quick bread, keep your butter cold and work quickly when folding. You can chill the dough in between steps if needed to keep the butter solid, because cold, hard butter will help the dough maintain its layered structure in the oven. Serve the biscuits piping hot right out the oven, broken open and slathered with a generous smear of the spiced honey butter. The sweet potato can be baked in advance and refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days. The spiced honey butter can be prepared up to a week in advance.
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Ingredients
Yield:12 biscuits
- 1medium sweet potato (11 to 14 ounces), scrubbed
- 4cups/526 grams all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling the dough
- 1tablespoon granulated sugar
- 2teaspoons kosher salt (Diamond Crystal)
- 2½teaspoons baking powder
- ¼teaspoon baking soda
- ¾cup/170 grams cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
- 2scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced (⅓ cup)
- 1¼cups buttermilk
- ½cup/114 grams unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¼teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
- ¼teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½teaspoon kosher salt (Diamond Crystal)
- 2tablespoons honey
For the Biscuits
For the Spiced Honey Butter (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (12 servings)
374 calories; 20 grams fat; 12 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 43 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 6 grams sugars; 6 grams protein; 305 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Make the biscuits: Heat oven to 375 degrees. Wrap the sweet potato tightly in foil and bake until tender enough for a knife to go in with no resistance, 45 minutes to 1 hour 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely. Scoop out 6 ounces/175 grams of cooked sweet potato flesh (about ¾ cup). (The sweet potato can be baked in advance and refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days.) Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Step
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In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Working quickly, rub or cut the cold butter into the dry mixture using your fingers or a pastry cutter until the butter pieces are the size of peas. (Alternatively, use a food processor and pulse the dry ingredients with the butter to cut in the butter.)
Step
3
Add the scallions and toss to coat with the flour mixture. Cut the cooked sweet potato into ½-inch chunks and drop into the bowl, tossing gently to coat with flour so that the pieces stay separated. Make a well in the center and pour in the buttermilk. Use a wooden spoon to stir until a shaggy dough forms. Transfer the dough to a floured work surface.
Step
4
Roll the dough into an 11-by-7-inch rectangle. Use a floured spatula to lift one end of the dough and fold over one-third of the rectangle. Fold the other end over the top as if folding a letter. You should end up with a rectangular piece of folded dough. Lightly flour the surface of the dough and roll again into a 12-by-6-inch rectangle. Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into 12 (2-by-3-inch) rectangles. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet, spacing about 1 ½ inches apart.
Step
5
Bake until biscuits are golden brown and cooked through, rotating the pan about halfway through, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer the biscuits to a wire rack to cool slightly before serving warm.
Step
6
While the biscuits bake, make the honey butter, if you like: In a small bowl, combine the butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper and salt. Add the honey, and use a fork to cut the ingredients into the butter until incorporated and smooth. Transfer to a small bowl and serve with the warm biscuits. The butter can be covered and refrigerated for up to 7 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.
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525
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Cooking Notes
PV
I made the biscuits only. Microwaved the sweet potato. Once cooled, cut it and put the cubes in the freezer for 15 minutes so they'd retain their shape, along with the cut butter and buttermilk. Ala Samin Nosrat, put about half the butter in the dry ingredients in a stand mixer until the consistency of sand. Then added the remaining butter and mixed until butter was pea-sized. Then hand mixed in the rest. They came out tender, with nice layers, and looked great.
Dgper
It's so much easier to just peel the sweet potato, cut it into slices about 1/2 " thick, steam them, and then when cooled cut into the cubes.
PV
Not quite sure on the time. It was a big one! About 4 minutes on full power, then another 4 or so on 40%, until it pierced easily with a fork. I let it sit for a while and it cooked more at rest. Peeled the skin off rather than scoop out the insides so the pulp would be more intact for cubing.
Ingridemma
I didn't read through the recipe and missed that I was supposed to leave the sweet potato in one piece after baking to be cut into 1/2-inch pieces later. I mashed mine as I scooped it out, so I smushed together 1/2-inch balls. Seemed to work just fine. My dough was pretty dry, maybe because I live at 8,000 feet, but the biscuits came out great. The butter was delicious, although I left out the pepper because it wasn't to my taste.
Kristin Tregillus
Chunks of sweet potato did not sound that appetizing to me, so I puréed it and just mixed it in. The results were fantastic and my eight-month-old granddaughter absolutely loves these biscuits.
Christy
I've made these many times now. If you don't feel like making the honey butter don't--they are great without it too. Using frozen sweet potato chunks is a big time saver. This is one of my favorite NYT recipes ever.
judy zehentner
Can you make this ahead of time?
liz
Has anyone frozen these? Was hoping to make, freeze, and then reheat on Thanksgiving.
Jan Frank
I have a very thin protective rubber pad about the size of a baking sheet that I use to protect my counters. Here, I used it to roll the dough out and it made folding the dough so, so easy. Highly recommend.
sally
These are the best biscuits I have ever made - never made a biscuit before! What fun - and easy once I got up the courage to try. Microwaved the potato for 5 min, grated cold butter with a grater, cut the biscuits smaller so the outcome doubled with lots to share. The butter is savory deliciousness. Now I am a biscuit maker!
Mary from Terry, MS
I've been making biscuits for years with persimmon pulp from our huge old Asian persimmon tree. Chunks of sweet potato in biscuits doesn't sound appealing to me, and everyone likes the texture and taste of persimmon for Thanksgiving.
Hannah
Really lovely texture, but I didn’t really taste the sweet potato which was what I was hoping for. I was concerned with the sweet potato to flour recipe and should’ve trusted my gut. If you want a biscuit with sweet potato in it, this is that recipe, but not a sweet potato biscuit.
Inexperienced baker here
I think I overused the food processor when I mixed in the butter. It takes a lot more effort to do it by hand but I get flakier biscuits that way.
MMS
Made these for Thanksgiving 2023 with Rasche and Skye. They were good, but they would have been better right out of the oven.
KG
Has anyone tried to make these gluten-free? what advise do you have if so?
delicious!!
YUM. Followed the recipe exactly and adored these. Will certainly add them to the rotation as a perfect breakfast, snack, dinner side…
Karla
I have made these three times now using squash, sweet potato, yam. Throwing in whatever herbs I have on hand. Great every time. Just had them for breakfast with a fried egg and cheese.
Mary
Yummy. Had leftovers rewarmed for breakfast smeared with butter mix or leftover Thanksgiving cranberries. Made dough through last roll, wrapped and placed in refrigerator until turkey came out of the oven. Next time will give them an extra minute in the oven.
Lisa
Made these nearly exactly as written, but microwaved the sweet potato and cut into cubes 2 days in advance. I couldn't find scallions at the store so used rosemary instead. Used the food processor to incorporate the butter. Came out perfect with a hint of sweetness. Served with black bean and chorizo soup which was a perfect combo.
sally
These are the best biscuits I have ever made - never made a biscuit before! What fun - and easy once I got up the courage to try. Microwaved the potato for 5 min, grated cold butter with a grater, cut the biscuits smaller so the outcome doubled with lots to share. The butter is savory deliciousness. Now I am a biscuit maker!
YiaYia
I microwave sweet potatoes. Super fast, works great.
Christy
I've made these many times now. If you don't feel like making the honey butter don't--they are great without it too. Using frozen sweet potato chunks is a big time saver. This is one of my favorite NYT recipes ever.
Ntransplant
These are excellent. I accidentally bought "spiced" buttermilk which I used..... What a great mistake!! Highly recommend.
Kristin Tregillus
Chunks of sweet potato did not sound that appetizing to me, so I puréed it and just mixed it in. The results were fantastic and my eight-month-old granddaughter absolutely loves these biscuits.
Christy
These are the best biscuits I've ever made. Is it all because of the lamination (folding) of the dough? I couldn't really taste the sweet potato, but maybe it does something--I'm making them again and using that again. I cut mine smaller and froze half the batch. They bake from frozen perfectly. They don't even seem to take longer in the oven. I just watch them and pull them when the color is right.
Jan Frank
I have a very thin protective rubber pad about the size of a baking sheet that I use to protect my counters. Here, I used it to roll the dough out and it made folding the dough so, so easy. Highly recommend.
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