Sweet Potato Biscuits

Reprinted with permission from The Farmhouse Chef: Recipes and Stories from My North Carolina Farm (The University of North Carolina Press, 2017).

Yield: 12 medium-sized biscuits

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups mashed cooked sweet potatoes
3 tablespoons cane syrup
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
4–5 tablespoons cultured buttermilk (more or less,
depending on moisture of potatoes)
1/4 cup heavy cream, for brushing scones
Heat oven to 450 degrees.
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Sift flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. In a separate large bowl, mix sweet potatoes, cane syrup and butter. Add flour mixture to potato mixture, and mix together with your fingertips or large forks to make a soft dough. (As Grandma says, keep your sweaty hands out of the dough.) Add buttermilk a tablespoon at a time and continue to mix together.
Turn dough out onto a floured board, and toss dough lightly until outside looks smooth. Roll dough out to 1/2-inch thick and cut with a biscuit cutter.
Place biscuits on a buttered pan or Silpat so that they are almost touching (biscuits like buddies), and brush tops with heavy cream. Bake for about 15 minutes. Watch biscuits closely in oven. The biscuits are done when they are light brown on top and just starting to look crusty.​

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