Yam Biscuits

These are light and fluffy and just the faintest hint of sweet: perfect for making biscuit sandwiches with some of the fresh roasted chicken from yesterday. Supper today was two chicken biscuits and some green beans: simple, but really good.

I think a good biscuit recipe or two is something every cook worth their salt should have under their belt, so here's one of my favorites.

Yam Biscuits
Adapted from Orangette

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbs light-brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
6 Tbs chilled unsalted butter
3/4 cup chilled sweet potato puree (Read: peeled, boiled, and pureed sweet potatoes. To avoid all the hassle, buy a tin of yams in the tinned foods section of your grocery store.)
1/3 cup buttermilk

In a large bowl, Start by whisking all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl: 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, 2 Tbs light-brown sugar, 2 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp baking soda. Using a pastry cutter, cut in 6 Tbs chilled unsalted butter, until the whole mixture resembles coarse meal, with some pea-size lumps of butter remaining. In a small bowl, use the pastry cutter again to pulverize your yams into puree, then stir in the 1/3 cup buttermilk. Stir the wet ingredients quickly into the dry ingredients until combined (do not overmix). I usually do this mixing with my hands, which will get dough all over them, but which I find is gentler than electric mixers for this.

Set the oven to preheat to 425F, then turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface, and knead very gently until dough comes together. A few remaining lumps are okay, but you shouldn't see individual chunks of butter or anything. If the dough is too sticky, work in more flour, until it achieves the proper consistency. Needing to add flour is common: the dough is right when it doesn't stick to your fingers anymore. It's too wet if you're still having sticking problems. Shape the dough into a circle, and pat it to an even 1-inch thickness. With a biscuit cutter, cut out biscuits as close together as possible. Arrange the biscuits on a baking sheet sprayed with non-stick baking spray (the kind that has flour in it). Once you've gotten as many biscuits out of the circle as you can, gather up the scraps and repeat the process to cut out more biscuits until you've used all the dough. I usually just give up and roll the last few into little balls then press them flat to save time.

Bake the biscuits for 20 minutes or until they turn golden. I usually turn the pan around once during the cooking time; it's not necessary but it's a nice touch. If in doubt about the biscuits' doneness, test one by opening it with a fork and examining the center. It should be moist but not doughy. If the biscuit isn't done, just stick it back together and put it in to bake for another few minutes.

Servings: 12 large biscuits, or 20 small ones