I didn’t grow up eating Sweet potatoes.
I never saw them on my Thanksgiving table or at Sunday dinner. They just didn’t exist in my world. Until one chilly afternoon in College when I stopped by the dorm room of a Souther friend of mine who had just pulled a Sweet potato, covered in butter and brown sugar out of the microwave. She was nuts. A Vegetable with sugar on it? I couldn’t get over how strange it was to enjoy a vegetable as if it was some kind of dessert. She offered me a bite, and my instinct to recoil was overtaken by my overwhelming curiosity. I was hooked.
I shocked at how much I love it. It was a comfort food, and it was a vegetable. Biscuits, made from scratch, are a bit the same. Although I didn’t grow up with anything other than a biscuit from a tube with a fear inducing opening method, those always seemed amazing to me. Another incredible comfort food.
And the beer isn’t just here for the novelty of it. Beer is a mild leavening agent, giving this biscuits a lighter, more tender texture. For this recipe, I like a Hefeweizen or a Pumpkin Ale.
Ingredients
- 1 large sweet potato
- 2/3 cup beer
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- pinch salt
- 1 tbs sugar
- 1 stick butter, cold, cut into small cubes
- 1 tbs melted butter
- 3 tbs butter, room temperature
- 1 sage leaf, minced
- 1 tsp pure maple syrup
Directions
- Preheat oven to 425.
- Pierce the sweet potato all over. Microwave on high until soft, about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool enough to work with. Remove and discard skin, add sweet potato to a bowl (should be about 3/4 cup of sweet potato mash).
- Add the beer to the sweet potatoes and using a potato masher, stir and mash until completely combined.
- In a bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Mix to combine.
- Add the butter cubes and using your fingers or a pastry blender, rub the butter into the flour until completely combined.
- Add the sweet potato beer mixture and mix until just combined.
- Form dough into a ball and place on a lightly floured surface. Form into a square, about 1 1/2 inches high, and about 1 foot long. Cut into square biscuits. Place on a baking sheet covered with a Silpat or parchment paper. Brush with melted butter.
- Bake at 425 for 15-18 minutes.
- In a small bowl, add the maple syrup ingredients and stir until combined.
- Serve biscuits warm, with maple sage butter.
