Before last night, I had never even tasted a sweet potato biscuit. But they’ve been on my list of new foods to try for a few months now. I’ve been collecting links to sweet potato biscuit recipes and have noticed that there is a pretty wide range of recipes.
Some people make a very sweet biscuit, using lots of mashed sweet potato and sugar. My husband, who has a major sweet tooth, would love this version from Pots on the Stove. While others seem to prefer just a slightly sweet, buttery version, like these from Orangette.
It wasn’t until last night that I decided which version I was going to try. The bacon version! Ok, I hadn’t actually seen or heard of a bacon version, but, like my friend Curt said this morning on twitter, “Everything is better with bacon!”
The inspiration actually struck when I was relaxing in the bath yesterday. Yes, I know, that’s kind of weird. But it’s true. I was laying there, trying to soak away the last of the lingering tension left over from what we all have to admit was a pretty stressful election year, and all of a sudden the idea popped into my head. Sweet potatoes, fresh herbs, and bacon! In a biscuit!
Although at first it seemed to just magically appear out nowhere, I quickly realized where I got the inspiration. My friend Amanda has been experimenting with prosciutto and herb-wrapped baby sweet potatoes and I was lucky enough to taste them a couple weeks back. That woman is a genius! And this photo of her latest version made me start thinking of them again. And looking at that photo again last night, I almost threw some crumbled blue cheese in the biscuits.
Maybe next time.
Now this is one of those recipes that is pretty much fool-proof. You can toss the bacon and herbs into any sweet potato recipe you like, but I went the easy route. I decided to make them using Bisquick, because it’s always nice to have a few Bisquick recipes!
You should know that I do make the majority of my biscuits from scratch now. In fact, the post about biscuits is the most popular on this site by far. But there will always be a place in my kitchen and my heart for a box of baking mix. I have fond memories of making Bisquick drop biscuits for myself as an after-school snack when I was a kid. Mmmmm…honey butter…
I decided to use only a small amount of sweet potato in these. I just wanted that little something extra while still somewhat maintaining the texture of a regular biscuit. I also only added a touch of sugar. I wanted to enhance the natural sweetness of the potato without actually making the biscuits sweet. Does that even make sense?
They turned out to be just the way I wanted. A tiny bit sweet, slightly salty and smoky from the bacon, and the fresh thyme adds that extra dimension to set these apart from anything you would expect to come from a yellow cardboard box.
I love them! And I can’t wait for one of you to try this recipe. I’m home alone for a few days so I haven’t even had feedback from my husband yet. Although I am driving up to my sister’s house today to deliver the leftovers to my brother-in-law. I’m pretty sure these will be right up his alley.
Sweet Potato Biscuits with Bacon and Thyme
2 C. Bisquick baking mix
4 slices bacon, cooked and chopped
1 heaping teaspoon fresh chopped thyme leaves
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup mashed sweet potato
1 T. brown sugar
all purpose flour for dusting counter
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Dust a counter top lightly with flour.
2. In a medium bowl, combine baking mix, bacon, and chopped thyme. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sweet potato, milk, and brown sugar.
3. Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and stir until just combined.
4. Dump mixture out onto a floured counter and knead a few times just to finish mixing the dough.
5. Pat out into a circle about 1/2 inch thick. Cut biscuits and arrange them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
6. Bake at 450 degrees for 8 – 10 minutes until just lightly browned on top.
7. Enjoy warm with a little butter.
Yield: 8-10 small biscuits
Recipe notes: To make 1/2 cup of mashed sweet potatoes, I just peeled one smallish sweet potato, cut it into chunks, and boiled it for about 15 minutes until it was fork tender. I put the potato through a food mill, but you can mash it however you like. Just make sure that it’s tender enough not to leave little chunks in your biscuits! You could also mash a leftover baked sweet potato.
In a medium bowl, combine baking mix, chopped bacon, and chopped fresh thyme.
In a separate bowl, combine sweet potato, milk, and brown sugar.
Whisk together the sweet potato, milk, and brown sugar.
Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir to combine.
Stir until the dough just barely comes together.
Dump the dough out onto the floured counter.
Knead the dough just a few times until it’s completely combined. Don’t overwork the dough!
With your hands, gently pat the dough out into a circle, about 1/2 inch thick.
Cut biscuits with biscuit cutter. Mine is 2 1/2 inches wide.
Combine scraps of dough to cut an extra biscuit or two. The final scraps can be shaped to form an extra tiny biscuit.
Place biscuits on parchment-lined baking sheet. You can see my tiny scrappy biscuit on the right!
Remove the biscuits from oven when they are just barely starting to brown on top.
And finally, enjoy a biscuit warm from the oven with a bit of butter!
For those of you just tuning in this month, I’m happy to say that I’m participating in the National Blog Posting Month challenge. For this year’s edition of NaBloPoMo, I’ve pledged to post a new recipe every single day for the month of November. If you don’t want to miss a recipe, sign up to receive my recipes by e-mail. You’ll only receive an e-mail when I write a new blog post, and your e-mail address will not be used for any other purpose. Interested? Sign up now!
Related Recipes:
Around the Web:
- Sweet Potato Biscuits from CHOW
- Sweet Potato Biscuits from Pots on the Stove
- Sweet Potato Biscuits from Orangette
- Sweet Potato Biscuits from A Yankee in a Southern Kitchen
- Sweet Potato Biscuits from A Veggie Venture
To die for! These look fabulous, butter….bacon…sweet potato, what a combo!
11:35 am Nov 6th, 2008Lunch. NOW. Your house. I’m on my way.
11:38 am Nov 6th, 2008WOW! My mouth was literally watering while viewing the photos. What a perfect November recipe.
11:41 am Nov 6th, 2008Wow- beautiful, Nicole. I’ve been craving sweet potato biscuits. And your addition of bacon is beyond! I’ll be attempting these- gluten-free, of course. And as for the bath inspiration? Me too. My best creative intuitions and problem solving happen in the bath or shower. Ha. Go figure.
11:59 am Nov 6th, 2008Really lovely post Nicole! Where are your fab dish towels from? I’m all about the kitchen accessory.
12:04 pm Nov 6th, 2008Ruby: I know, they’re so good!
12:10 pm Nov 6th, 2008Alanna: Wish you had been here last night to eat a few right out of the oven!
Jamie: Thanks! If your mouth was watering, then I’ve done what I set out to do!
Karina: Please let me know how the gluten-free version turns out. I’m sure my sister-in-law would love to try them!
Erin: Thanks! I’m sorry to tell you that those gorgeous dish towels came from Sicily. They don’t absorb water well, so I don’t use them often. But they’re perfect for a bread basket. You can’t really see in the photo, but they have artichokes on them.
wow, those look so warm and comforting! amazing.
12:13 pm Nov 6th, 2008I just drooled on my keyboard.
12:23 pm Nov 6th, 2008Mmmm, love it!
12:38 pm Nov 6th, 2008Those would be awesome with a pot of beans!
1:01 pm Nov 6th, 2008I love your biscuit cutter~ there has to be a story behind that!
kickpleat: Thanks!
1:07 pm Nov 6th, 2008Nat: Haha! Hope you didn’t ruin it
ttfn300:
Sandi: Not too much of a story, just that I’ve had it for a really long time! It looks older than it actually is because my husband’s put it in the dishwasher and it’s rusted in spots. He’ll learn one of these days, haha!
OMG I love. They sound delicious. I have a pumpkin biscuits that I make for the holidays, but these sound divine. Great photos, too.
4:25 pm Nov 6th, 2008these look awesome! can’t wait to try ‘em out! love the photos
4:55 pm Nov 6th, 2008Fit Bottomed Girls: Wow, I’ve never heard of pumpkin biscuits. I wonder if they’re similar in taste…
6:19 pm Nov 6th, 2008Ashley: Thanks! Hope you get a chance to try them!
I have bookmarked this because it looks SO wonderful! I am a big fan of sweet potato and they’re all over the markets right now. Yum!
5:03 am Nov 7th, 2008I’m sending this recipe, along with some thyme from my garden, to my friend Lucia, who is the best biscuit maker I know and who has promised to teach me her secrets! Mayb e she’ll add this to her repertoire.
7:52 am Nov 7th, 2008look at that color! that is totally awesome. this recipe seems so versatile and perfect for this time of year. yummy!
11:02 am Nov 7th, 2008I’ve been contemplating trying a sweet potato biscuit also. Thanks for the great idea of the bacon…I agree everything is better with bacon.
7:27 pm Nov 7th, 2008Oh delicious! Everything *is* better with bacon! I will definitely be trying these.
10:14 pm Nov 7th, 2008[...] Recipes Vanilla Mashed Sweet Potatoes at 101 Cookbooks Sweet Potato Bread Pudding at The Kitchn Sweet Potato Biscuits with Bacon and Thyme at Pinch My [...]
8:42 pm Nov 19th, 2008Wow, perfect combination. Simple sweet potato biscuits, sans bacon, are a staple at lots of southern Thanksgiving suppers, but these look especially amazing, and I can’t wait to make them. Thank you
9:30 am Nov 28th, 2008i just made these with bisquick lite and skim milk…I also added traditional sweet potato spices–eliminated bacon and thyme—because i want to serve them with kite country ham–a sugar cured ham–maybe even put a liitle apple butter–these might be great for Christmas gifts! thanks for the inspiration.
1:38 pm Dec 2nd, 2008I made these this week, and OH MY! They were delicious! I was afraid I had messed the dough up somehow, because mine was really, really wet and sticky and there was no way I could pat it into a nice circle and cut out the biscuits like you show above. So I did what my mom used to do with Bisquick biscuits – I just dropped spoonfuls onto the baking sheet and baked them that way. Worked out perfectly!
7:16 am Dec 5th, 2008I’m literally stuffing one in my mouth as I type! These are fantastic! I made them today as a test run for Christmas. They are perfect and I can’t wait to eat them alongside all the other traditional foods. I did have a similar issue as the poster above with the stickiness, but I just added more and more flour as I went. But I guess I could try to just do the drop style instead of rolling them out. Either way I know they are delicious. Buon Natale!
4:58 am Dec 23rd, 2008I just found your website yesterday while googling for biscuit recipes. I made this recipe this morning. I am in LOVE. It is incredible!!! My husband told me it’s the best brunch I’ve ever ever made. hehe.
Thanks!
9:25 am Oct 11th, 2009Love, Love, Love, this website, “Pinch My Salt” is my “New Best Friend” I have already picked items that I will be preparing soon. LOVE IT!!!!!!!
10:30 am Nov 23rd, 2009Thank you!!
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