Browned Butter Sweet Potato Biscuits

Hey everyone! Happy first day of December, AND, Happy Day 1 of what is hands down, my favorite time of year here on the blog: the 12 Days of Christmas.

If you’ve been following me for at least the past year, this will be very familiar to you. But in case you’re new here, allow me to explain.

Ever since I was a child, holiday baking has always been a major part of my life. I grew up in a household with women who were exceptional cooks and bakers. Every year from November-December, there was always a great amount of baking being done in our house: cakes, cookies, pies, candy; the whole she-bang. They went all out. I’ve even shared a few of those holiday recipes here on the blog.

It wasn’t just the taste of the holiday treats that I enjoyed, although I definitely did enjoy that part of it. But it was also the overall atmosphere that the bustle and generosity of holiday baking created in the house that I picked up on and absolutely loved, even as a child. That stuck with me as I grew up and became a thing probably better known as nostalgia. It’s that sense of nostalgia that made me want to learn how to bake, so that I could recreate and relive all those feel-good emotions for myself.

When I started Cooking is My Sport, I already knew that I wanted to make a real ‘production’ of the holiday season. Because I like to challenge myself, I also wondered what it would be like if I did so in the making and sharing of a series of recipes that were themed around the holiday carol the 12 Days of Christmas; twelve delicious holiday recipes every year.

It’s definitely a challenge, but if you know me, you know I’m never going to be one to shy from one of those. It’s been over ten years now, and I’m pleased and a little bit proud to say that the 12 Days of Christmas has been a regular tradition here on the blog that continues–starting today.

Today marks Day 1 of the 2024 12 Days of Christmas, and for this year I thought I’d start out with one my all-time favorite things to bake: biscuits. Biscuits were one of the very first things I set out to learn how to make, and make well, when I began my cooking/baking journey so many years ago. I love them for a lot of reasons, but primarily because they’re what I like to think of as a Blank Canvas recipe where they start out with a very strong foundation of a recipe that’s delicious enough on its wn, but is also flexible enough to where once you become comfortable enough with it, you can add any number of different variations in flavor and ingredients to make it even better/more delicious.

I’ve done this a number of times with biscuits on the blog, with some truly delicious results (For instance, here and here) I’ve even featured biscuits before for one the recipes in last year’s 12 Days of Christmas. Because I loved last year’s results so much, I knew going into the planning of this year’s line up that I wanted to take another shot at a ‘holiday’ themed biscuit. To do so, I thought that I would combine elements from two of the biscuit recipes I’d done before into one: Browned Butter Biscuits with Sweet Potato Biscuits.

There are very few foods that cannot be improved with the addition of browned butter. In a nutshell, it’s basically butter that gets simmered/cooked over the stove until its milk solids began to separate and toast until they’re golden brown. This creates warm/nutty aroma and flavor that is absolutely divine. It goes well with so many things, especially biscuits.

One of the pure banes of biscuits is dry/tough dough. To combat this, you need both a light touch, and if possible, some ingredients that lend moisture in your recipe. This is where sweet potato works so well for biscuits: mashed potatoes of any kind are moist, and when added to dough they make it almost impossible for biscuits to turn out dry or tough. Plus, sweet potatoes have excellent flavor and have a number of super healthy nutrients in them (y’know, in case you wanted to give yourself an excuse not to feel bad about eating biscuits with a healthy amount of butter)

My personal technique for making perfect biscuits requires an extra step or two more than the average biscuit recipe, but I’m confident that you’ll find that if you take those extra steps, it is SO worth it. Your biscuits will rise nice and high, they will be golden brown and tender on the inside, and they will have layers for DAYS.

And don’t get me started on the flavors: the combination of the browned butter with the sweet potato is awesome enough on its own, but when you bring the fresh sage to the party it takes to a whole other level of taste.

These biscuits were an absolute triumph, and they make for a perfect beginning to this year’s 12 Days of Christmas.

Stay tuned for more recipes in this year’s series!

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Browned Butter Sweet Potato Biscuits

Recipe Adapted from Serious Eats

Ingredients

4 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 sprigs of fresh sage
2 heaping cups mashed sweet potato puree
2/3 cup buttermilk

Directions

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add sage, and cook, stirring frequently, until milk solids at bottom have turned a deep amber color and butter is fragrant, 8 to 10 minutes. Pour into a shallow heatproof resealable container and freeze completely. (Don’t worry about removing the sage from the butter, it will be grated with the butter into tiny pieces)
In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Stir with a fork a few times.

Using the large holes on a box grater, grate the browned butter directly into the dry ingredients. Stir together with a fork, then make a well in the center of the mixture.

Add the sweet potato and the buttermilk and stir together with a fork, just until the dough starts to clump together.

Turn dough out onto a clean and lightly floured work surface, and knead once or twice until it comes together; flour your hands if needed. If there are any loose bits, add them to center of dough and knead once more to incorporate.

Pat dough into a rectangle, about 1.5 inches thick. Working from a short side, fold dough in thirds as you would a letter. It doesn’t need to overlap perfectly. Pat dough into another rectangle, then fold dough in thirds like a letter one more time. (You’ll have done the folding procedure two times total.) Pat dough back into an rectangle and straighten up with your hands and/or your bench scraper.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge overnight.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place a shallow pan of water on the bottom rack of the oven.

Sprinkle your work surface with flour and unwrap the biscuit dough out onto it. Use a bench scraper or very sharp knife to trim the edges of the rectangle. Use a square cookie cutter, or a knife to cut the remaining dough into squares, about 2″ each.

Remove the cut biscuits to the baking sheet you’ve lined with parchment paper, placing them rather close to each other (it will help them rise higher). Freeze until cold, about 15 minutes.

Spray the tops of the biscuits with cooking spray, and then sprinkle with flaked sea salt if desired.

Bake for 20-30 minutes, until biscuits are golden brown and cooked through at the edges (they should not look wet).

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