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Savory and buttery with a subtle sweetness, these tender and flaky Sweet Potato Biscuits with Cheese make any meal special. Freeze the dough for fresh-baked biscuits any day of the week!
Sweet Potato Biscuits with Cheese And Thyme – For Holidays or Every Day
Though I’m not hosting our family Thanksgiving this year, I will be throwing a neighborhood party just before Christmas. So, I’ve been creating and auditioning some recipes for the big bash this week. These yummy Sweet Potato Biscuits with Cheese have most definitely made the cut!
The rich, buttery flavor, brightened with the taste of fresh thyme, makes them a winner for parties and holiday gatherings. I’m planning to serve them as mini-sandwiches, with a slice of ham and a touch of honey mustard.
But they’re also a great way to add a special touch to a weeknight dinner. Freezing the dough ahead of time makes it easy to have freshly baked biscuits any day of the week.
Of course, a batch of fresh-from-the-oven biscuits served warm with butter would be a delicious accompaniment for any holiday meal.
And since these sweet potato biscuits are really easy to make – and make ahead – you’ve still got time to mix some up before the big day!
What Do You Need to Make Sweet Potato Cheese Biscuits?
Given the amount of space that grocery stores devote to refrigerated biscuits, I’m guessing that a lot of people think biscuits must be hard to bake from scratch. In truth, they’re really pretty easy.
Most basic biscuit recipes require just five ingredients, including…
- Flour
- Butter
- Buttermilk or milk
- Baking Soda
- Salt
My Sweet Potato and Cheese Biscuits require all of the above, plus a couple of extras. Are they a little more work? Sure. But, honestly, not much. And they kick the flavor of these sweet and savory biscuits to heavenly heights.
Here are the extras…
- Mashed sweet potato
- Grated Parmesan Cheese
- Fresh thyme
Eight simple ingredients! That’s all you’ll need to make flaky, fabulous Sweet Potato and Cheese Biscuits.
Well, that and a couple of baking tips.
How To Make Sweet Potato Cheese Biscuits – Love and Cold Butter
Of course, the love part almost goes without saying. But the other key to making really great biscuits starts with cold butter.
And I mean, really cold.
When very small, very cold bits of butter hit a very hot oven, it takes them just a little bit longer to melt inside the dough. That leaves some tiny little pockets of air and that makes the biscuit texture flakey and extra delish.
I actually keep some butter in the freezer to use for baking. I’ll set it on the counter to thaw just a little while I’m mixing up the dry ingredients. Then I cut it into small chunks before adding it to the flour mixture, to speed the mixing process.
Cutting the butter into the flour is the only part that takes a little time. You need to cut the butter into very little bits, no larger than a small pea, working quickly so the butter doesn’t melt.
Using a pastry cutter, like this one, definitely makes the job faster and easier. But in a pinch, you can also use two table knives to cut crossways through the butter.
Once the butter is cut into tiny pieces, you’ll stir wet ingredients together, then add them to the flour and butter mixture.
My recipe calls for mashed sweet potato, but yams can work just as well. A large, oven-roasted sweet potato will give you about a cut of mashed potato.
The other wet ingredient is buttermilk. Buttermilk gives the biscuits a subtle, deliciously tangy flavor. If you don’t have any on hand, you can easily make your own.
Just add one tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to a measuring cup, then fill the measuring cup with whole milk. Let it sit five minutes before adding it to the recipe, so the acid has a chance to work into the milk.
You’ll stir the wet ingredients into the dry, creating a loose and shaggy dough. Next, you’ll turn the out onto a floured surface and use your hands to work it into a more even and firm ball of dough.
The last step before baking is to roll the dough out to about an inch thickness before cutting out your biscuits. Easy!
All you have to do now is bake them…or not.
Sweet Potato Biscuits With Cheese – Freeze Now to Bake Later
Especially during the holidays, I am all about recipes that can be made ahead of time, including these sweet potato and cheese biscuits.
If you’d want to make the dough now but bake them later, line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and place the cutout biscuit dough on the sheet. Make sure that the biscuits aren’t touching.
Place the baking sheet in the freezer for two hours, until the uncooked biscuits are frozen through. Frozen biscuits can be stored in a plastic zipper bag in the freezer for up to three months.
When you’re ready to enjoy them, take as many biscuits as you want out of the bag and bake according to the recipe instructions. You don’t need to thaw before baking but note that frozen biscuits will need an extra four to five minutes of baking time.
Print
Sweet Potato Biscuits with Cheese and Thyme
- Yield: Makes 36 two-inch biscuits (unbaked biscuits can be frozen for later use 1x
Ingredients
- 3 cups flour, plus extra for rolling dough
- 1 T baking powder
- ½ tsp Kosher salt
- ¾ cup very cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 2 T fresh thyme leaves
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese (can sub Pecorino)
- 1 cup cooked, mashed sweet potato (can sub yams)
- 1 cup buttermilk (can sub whole milk with 1 T lemon juice or white vinegar, let sit for 5 min before adding to recipe)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
- Place flour, baking powder and salt into a medium sized mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
- Add butter, thyme, and grated cheese to the bowl. Cut the butter into very small, pebble-sizes bits using a pastry cutter or two knives.
- In a separate, smaller mixing bowl, whisk mashed sweet potato and buttermilk together until smooth, then pour into the prepared flour. Using a spatula, mix the wet and dry ingredients together to form a loose, shaggy dough.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Form the dough into a loose ball with your hands, then use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a one-inch thick rectangle. Dip a biscuit cutter into flour to prevent sticking, then cut out the biscuits and place on the baking sheet, leaving two inches between them.
- Place baking sheet in the preheated oven and bake for 16 minutes, until biscuits are golden brown.
- Unbaked biscuits can be placed on a parchment lined baking sheet and for frozen two hours, then placed in a plastic freezer bag and stored for up to 3 months. Frozen biscuits will need an extra 4-5 minutes of baking time.
