Biscuits so sweet and flavorful they don’t need any toppings. I love biscuits, so I was super excited to try this unique sweet potato biscuit recipe. It didn’t turn out anything like I expected, but they were so incredibly tasty! They didn’t rise like a traditional American biscuit, in fact, they came out more like a cakey cookie, but they were moist and soft inside, with a crunchy outside, and I packed with sweet potato flavor, and I enjoyed every bite. 

The recipe was super simple. All you have to do is sift flour, baking powder, and salt, then cut in your favorite vegetable shortening. As a rule, you never want to overmix the flour and fat when you’re making biscuits. The less you blend them, the flakier and more tender your biscuits will be, so don’t be afraid to leave lots of small chunks of shortening. Better to undermix than over. 

Then blend cooked sweet potatoes with sugar and milk before combining that with other the flour. Again, don’t overmix, just fold together until there is no more dry flour. The dough can be very wet, depending on how moist your sweet potatoes are, so generously flour the surface you turn them out on, and I would use your hands instead of a rolling pin to roll out the dough. Don’t panic if your dough is really wet, just go slow, and use a spatula to transfer the cut biscuits to a baking sheet. You don’t have to get the shapes perfectly round. They are very forgiving, and spread quite a bit as they bake, so don’t stress about how they look. 

After baking, they come out with a nice brown on the bottom, with pillowy soft tops, almost like muffin tops. I would leave them to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring or serving them. They are definitely more flavorful and flat than a traditional biscuit, but paired with a salty breakfast meat like ham or sausage, they are absolutely heavenly. 

Sharon Etcheverry was kind enough to share this unique recipe in the vintage Norris Choir community cookbook, and I am so grateful she did. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, and I hope it encourages you to cook more old recipes.