It all started with leftover mashed sweet potatoes.
Not just any mashed sweet potatoes, either. I'm talking about The Boy's signature side dish of sweet potatoes spiked with maple syrup and cardamom, which we'd originally made for our Christmas dinner of roast goose with all the trimmings.
It was The Boy's french toast that won my heart, but I'm pretty sure that these mashed potatoes sealed the deal.
It's a great way to dress up sweet potatoes for a special occasion - the maple syrup brings out the natural sweetness of the yams without being cloyingly sweet (a trait I find it all too common in sweet potato dishes), while the cardamom infuses each bite with its subtle yet unmistakeable warm, exotic spice.
There was only about a cup of mashed potatoes in the container.. not enough to make a meal, but still too much for me to throw out without feeling guilty.
And so they sat in the fridge for nearly a week, neglected and ignored, until inspiration struck. I could make biscuits!
As it turns out, the same flavour combination that makes The Boy's mashed sweet potatoes so amazing is just as good once it's been baked into biscuit form.
When Life Hands You Leftovers, Make Sweet Potato Drop Biscuits
These aren't your average, everyday sweet potato biscuits.
In my experience, many recipes for sweet potato biscuits are for rolled biscuits, which are very light and flaky, but also have a very high flour-to-potato ratio which means there aren't many noticeable traces of sweet potato besides a pale orange colour.
By comparison, these scones have an almost one-to-one ratio of potato and flour, which is too soft to roll out but just perfect for a drop biscuit.
The end result falls somewhere between cookie and biscuit - dense, moist and crumbly, with loads of sweet potato flavour in every bite. Plus they use up a whole cup of mashed sweet potatoes, which should hopefully make a dent in your Thanksgiving leftovers.
Granted, they're not light or flaky, but they're utterly swoon-worthy nonetheless... especially when paired with a bowl of spicy chili. Heck, even the cats approved!
How to Make Sweet Potato Biscuits if You Don't Have Leftovers
I'm assuming you probably don't have mashed sweet potatoes already seasoned with cardamom and maple syrup in your fridge. (I mean, you might, but what are the odds?)
To accommodate for that, I've written out the recipe with the assumption that you're starting with plain ol' sweet potato, mashed but otherwise unseasoned. If you don't even have that much, then peel a medium-sized sweet potato, boil in salted water for 15-20 minutes or until tender, and mash into a smooth puree.
Heck, you can even substitute an equal amount of mashed roasted squash, if that's what you've got kicking around in your fridge. (Just avoid canned pumpkin, as it has a much higher water content and won't work in this recipe.)
//
Print
Maple-Cardamom Sweet Potato Biscuits
- Total Time: 40 mins
- Yield: 12 1x
Description
These soft drop biscuits are a perfect way to use up leftover cooked sweet potatoes or sweet potato mash.
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 3 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, chilled
- 1 cup mashed cooked sweet potatoes
- ½ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup milk
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450F, and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl. Using a pastry cutter, cut in the cold butter until you have a coarse, crumbly mixture.
- In a separate mixing bowl, stir together mashed sweet potatoes, sour cream, milk, maple syrup and cardamom until smooth. Fold in the dry ingredients, stopping as soon as the last of the floury streaks has been incorporated. Don't overmix!
- Drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet by the spoonful, leaving some space between the biscuits to avoid crowding. You should have enough to make twelve large-ish biscuits.
- Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until biscuits are lightly golden. Let cool on a wire rack for 5-10 minutes before serving.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Category: Side
Sprinkled with Flour says
I love sweet potato biscuits, they are one of my best friends:)
Isabelle says
Thanks for the feedback, mochibelly. Let me do a couple more test runs to see if I can figure out the right timing (yes, I'll just have to force myself to eat more biscuits... my life is hard sometimes).
My first batch were barely browned after 30 mins and the second were fine at 25 mins, but it's possible that they were the exception to the rule.
mochibelly says
These were super yummy, but definitely did NOT need anything close to 25 minutes to bake in my oven... They burned at 25, and were pretty much perfect at 18
Jean says
I've never heard of sweet potato biscuits before but I have to say they're the most enticing thing that I've seen on the blogosphere all week. I had to bookmark because I have to make these for me and my husband. Love it!
Lynn @ I'll Have What She's Having says
mmm.. great flavour combinations! I love the idea of maple and sweet potato together.
Rivki Locker (Ordinary Blogger) says
Sweet potatoes are such a wonderful food. I eat them SO many different ways - baked, roasted, mashed, in pies. I have never tried them in biscuits, though. These look wonderful, and I love your photos. Thanks for a great recipe.
Ang says
Okay, I have made and posted sweet potato biscuits. However, after viewing yours, I might just have to delete that recipe because they don't even come close to these curious and interesting flavors. Maple syrup....yum......cardamom.....yum......sour cream even?? Holy smokes these look delicious. I can't wait to try them. Seriously!
Amy at TheSceneFromMe says
I so want to try something with sweet potatoes in it!
My mom actually make sweet potato scones and is bringing me one this weekend!
Brie: Le Grand Fromage says
oh yum, awesome recipe. i'll have to make these for my guy since sweet potatoes are his favorite. i like the kitty lurking in the background, too. ;)
Isabelle says
Thanks for the kind words, everyone!
lissla, you just say the word. :) I'm looking for an excuse to make them again anyways.
Jackie, there's a rather funny story there. You see, I had breakfast at The Boy's place when we were getting to know each other and weren't officially dating quite yet.
He claims he picked breakfast because it was the only time he could fit into his crazy schedule, but I think he figured that showing off his badass French Toast skills would give me incentive to stay the night eventually. :)
Tiffany says
These biscuits made me smile... the bad part is that I am in Starbucks and people are staring at me like I'm crazy! LOL!
YUM!
briarrose says
Fabulous drop biscuit. The mix of flavors is just delightful.
Belinda @zomppa says
WOW! These biscuits pack a bunch...fantastic combination.
Jackie says
Mhm, this looks seriously good! And I can imagine that the original mash was amazing with the roast goose (which I'm super jealous about, by the way, as it was one of my missions for 2010 which didn't happen!) - love it. And French Toast, eh? Was that a breakfast-morning-after kinda deal, eh? Eh? EH? Just kidding... (but I bet it was)... ;)
Jax x
Pretend Chef says
Just the thought of these has my stomach growling! Sounds so delicious and look wonderful!
lissla lissar says
Hmm. Maybe I DO want you to bring some of these to the party on Saturday...