Karl’s Sweet Potato Biscuits with PB&J

Last week Jan had a work lunch that had Sweet Potato Biscuits with PB&J. She brought some leftovers home for us to try. She suggested that this would be a good thing to serve the teenagers on their Thursday movie night.

I found these biscuits to be dry and not tasting very much of the key ingredient, sweet potato. Sweet potato biscuits are a Southern (US) classic recipe. The recipes on-line all called for French handling of the butter—keep it cold and handle the dough as little as possible.  I personally find the British method much more forgiving.

I was sure I could do better than the dry lumps Jan brought home. Fresh peach jam as the “J” would not hurt as well. To make it a meal, some salad and watermelon.

Karl’s Sweet Potato Biscuits with PB&J

Ingredients

¾ cup sweet potato puree

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbs. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
¼ cup bacon grease/butter, softened

1 egg
1 Tbs. Karl’s Orange Infused Sugar
½+ cup cream

½ cup chunky peanut butter
½ cup Karl’s Peach Jam

Directions

1. Peel, boil and puree the sweet potato in a medium bowl.

Tip: I use the sweet potato sold as “jewel yam” for the orange color.

2. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt several times into a large bowl.

Tip: Repeated sifting helps distribute the ingredients evenly through the mix.

3. Work the softened bacon grease/butter into the flour mixture completely by rubbing it through your fingers. The flour should look a bit “sandy” when you are done.

Tip: You can use strait butter or strait bacon grease, but I prefer one tablespoon of bacon grease to two tablespoons of butter.

4. Put the egg in a measuring cup and beat it lightly.

5. Add the cream to the cup to make about ¾ of a cup.

6. Whisk together the milk mixture, sugar, and the sweet potato puree.

7. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and stir to combine.

8. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead 10-15 times.

Note: For most quick breads you are trying to prevent the creation of gluten, which makes for tough biscuits. This recipe is based upon a British scone recipe, so much of the flour is prevented from forming gluten by being bound to the grease/butter. The remaining flour needs a bit of help to form enough gluten to give the ciscuits some shape.

9. Roll the dough to one half inch thick and cut out the scones with a 2 inch biscuit cutter.

10. Brush the tops with cream.

11. Bake at 400° F, on the middle rack, for 16 minutes or until golden brown.

Tip: I found that the addition of the sweet potato puree required more baking time at a lower temperature to reach fully baked than is necessary for a dryer biscuit.

12. Let the biscuits cool slightly.

13. Cut in half and spread with PB&J and serve.