What to do with those Thanksgiving leftovers? Of course, you ate many of them the next day, and you probably froze some, as I did. But as much as I love sweet potatoes, I still get tired of them day after day. I also refuse to throw food away, so even that last half cup of sweet potatoes needed to be “repurposed.” I recalled making sweet potato biscuits the hard way (and one I do not recommend)—by grating the raw potato and adding that to the dough. They were good but not worth the trouble. I figured I could add the mashed and slightly sweetened sweet potatoes to my normal biscuit recipe, adjusting a bit since there was already butter in the potatoes.
One benefit I wasn’t planning on was that I could actually knead these biscuits in the bowl, and the dough behaved like wheat dough. Without having a sticky mess on my hands (and with no flour on the backs of my hands), I could manipulate the dough easily. The first time I baked these, I thought this quality of the dough was a fluke; however, I baked these biscuits again recently and found the same ease with kneading.
Sweet Potato Sorghum Biscuits
1 and 1/3 cups sorghum flour
2/3 cup arrowroot starch
Rounded ½ teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
5 tablespoons unsalted butter—keep cold until use
1/2 cup leftover mashed sweet potatoes prepared with butter or margarine and sweetener
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 cup cold water; more if needed
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Mix sorghum flour, arrowroot starch, xanthan gum, sugar, salt, and baking powder using a wire whisk. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender. Add prepared sweet potatoes, but wait to mix. (The ones I used were made with butter and a small amount of maple syrup.) Mixing with a fork, add cream and only the amount of water needed to bind ingredients and form a rough ball. If extra liquid is needed to form ball, add very little at a time; this keeps biscuits flaky.
Knead in the bowl for about a minute. Then roll out or pat dough to about 1/4-inch thickness and cut with a biscuit or cookie cutter. Arrange on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes, checking before time to avoid burning (convection oven: 425 for 8 minutes). Yield: 9 biscuits. Freezes well. (To reheat: Do not thaw first; cook in toaster oven or regular oven at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes.)
***
I shared biscuits from the first batch with a friend, who loved them with butter and honey. My second batch was done with my four-year-old grandson, who loved his with butter and apple butter. I’ve eaten mine for breakfast, snack, and as an accompaniment to soup. They are great sweetened with jam, though apple butter remains my favorite. They are equally good unsweetened. And the good thing is that you don’t have to wait until next Thanksgiving to enjoy these biscuits. Instead of using leftover mashed sweet potatoes, I’m going to bake a sweet potato and mash it specifically so that I can bake these biscuits again…soon!
One benefit I wasn’t planning on was that I could actually knead these biscuits in the bowl, and the dough behaved like wheat dough. Without having a sticky mess on my hands (and with no flour on the backs of my hands), I could manipulate the dough easily. The first time I baked these, I thought this quality of the dough was a fluke; however, I baked these biscuits again recently and found the same ease with kneading.
Sweet Potato Sorghum Biscuits
1 and 1/3 cups sorghum flour
2/3 cup arrowroot starch
Rounded ½ teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
5 tablespoons unsalted butter—keep cold until use
1/2 cup leftover mashed sweet potatoes prepared with butter or margarine and sweetener
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 cup cold water; more if needed
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Mix sorghum flour, arrowroot starch, xanthan gum, sugar, salt, and baking powder using a wire whisk. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender. Add prepared sweet potatoes, but wait to mix. (The ones I used were made with butter and a small amount of maple syrup.) Mixing with a fork, add cream and only the amount of water needed to bind ingredients and form a rough ball. If extra liquid is needed to form ball, add very little at a time; this keeps biscuits flaky.
Knead in the bowl for about a minute. Then roll out or pat dough to about 1/4-inch thickness and cut with a biscuit or cookie cutter. Arrange on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes, checking before time to avoid burning (convection oven: 425 for 8 minutes). Yield: 9 biscuits. Freezes well. (To reheat: Do not thaw first; cook in toaster oven or regular oven at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes.)
***
I shared biscuits from the first batch with a friend, who loved them with butter and honey. My second batch was done with my four-year-old grandson, who loved his with butter and apple butter. I’ve eaten mine for breakfast, snack, and as an accompaniment to soup. They are great sweetened with jam, though apple butter remains my favorite. They are equally good unsweetened. And the good thing is that you don’t have to wait until next Thanksgiving to enjoy these biscuits. Instead of using leftover mashed sweet potatoes, I’m going to bake a sweet potato and mash it specifically so that I can bake these biscuits again…soon!
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