I love sweet potatoes and I love biscuits so it was a given that I would love sweet potato biscuits. Too bad my biscuits resembled hardtack instead of puffy soft biscuits. At least there are a lot of uses for rock hard biscuits. You can use them to hammer in nail, as a hockey puck, a paper weight, a frisbee or dog chew toy. Really the list of uses is endless. You can also eat them. You just have to be careful you don't lose a tooth.
This was only my second time making biscuits. The first time was much worse which is saying something. With those ones I could cut glass. At this rate I may eventually make the perfect biscuit.
I used fresh sweet potatoes. I baked them in the oven until they were nice and soft and then skinned and mashed them. I used 1 cup of sweet potatoes per Dorie's directions. I have an unexplained aversion to canned potatoes. They give me the willies. I also added a pinch of cinnamon because who can say no cinnamon. Not me.
After I rolled/patted out my dough and cut my biscuits I realized that Dorie recommended a smaller sized biscuit. Oops. I don't know if these were cut smaller if they would have puffed up. I'm thinking probably not. Maybe if I stacked two biscuits together they would have been puffy. I put my biscuits in the oven and checked on them with mounting dread. These babies looked exactly the same when I put them in the oven as when I took them out. They just got a bit brown. Another biscuit failure.
These biscuits had one thing going for them...they taste wonderful. Even when you totally screw these up they are still yummy. Maybe a little crunchy and dry but still tasty. I'll have to give these another try. I will not let biscuits defeat me. Someday I'll be able to whip a nice light fluffy puffy biscuit.
Thanks to Erin of Prudence Pennywise for picking this recipe. Check out her cute blog for the recipe or get a copy of Dorie's book. I'm sure all the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers had some good and tasty looking biscuits. You should head on over and check them all out.
P.S. Pete says thanks for all the nice comments from his post last week. You all were so nice he even offered to write a post for me whenever I want. Awesome.
Hum... maybe you'll have a change of heart when you see others' biscuits are just the same as yours. Perhaps they were meant to replace hockey pucks or level off crooked tables... one thing's for sure though, yours look great and am glad to find out they tasted the same!
ReplyDeleteThese are perfect for my Atlantic voyage! Thanks for the hardtack!
ReplyDelete(But in all truthfulness, these were delicious)
Okay, I agree on the flavor...mine didn't rise decently either, but we all loved the flavor. I think yours look good and would be wonderful dunked in some tea for an afternoon snack. Send them here so I can try. I like the look of the crunchy edges on yours...always like crunchy edges on anything. I have been known to eat just the crunchy edges on things. Your photos are stunning, so I say it's a hit.
ReplyDeletemy biscuits and scones come out flat all the time (although these ones miraculously were alright)! now i pat the dough out a little fatter, so even if they didn't rise much, they look like they did (and then you have tall hardtack). sneaky, huh?
ReplyDeleteToo bad the texture wasn't there. Biscuit making is a science. I'm sure you will get it right soon. They say third time's a charm.
ReplyDeleteThat's the spirit! Don't let those biscuits get the best of you. Mine didn't rise much either, but tasty just the same.
ReplyDeleteHard tack! HAHA! Hilarious.
ReplyDeleteI am not a biscuit fan so I made cupcakes instead (I know, I know, what a sell out), but I love your pictures. They look great!
Love, Love Love the shots! They make them look so rustic and "healthy" - in a great way! And love the round, fluted cutter. I agree - these were surprisingly wonderful biscuits - from someone who also doesn't make biscuits. Well done!
ReplyDeleteI had trouble with my biscuits too! Yours look pretty in the pictures though!!
ReplyDeleteIm glad you tired them. I had to add some chocolate chips to mine..Im glad I did cus my kids would have not even tired them!
ReplyDeleteI have made hockeypuck biscuits before as well. One day they will rise! :)
ReplyDeleteAww sorry! They look beautiful though!
ReplyDeleteHello, stopping by from Dorie's site. This is my second week doing TWD. My biscuits rose okay but I didn't get the yield of 18 as per the recipe. Looking forward to stopping back and reading more of your great looking posts!
ReplyDeleteKindly, ldh
I think the only thing that would have made these thick would have been to roll them out thick to start with. Yours look nice and caramelly colored. Glad you liked them :)
ReplyDeleteHey I take great tasting over great looking any day. I do think these look great though.
ReplyDeleteWhat pretty scalloped edges on your biscuits. They did turn out quite pretty, but I am sorry that you had a tough time with them. Biscuits are a PITA for me!! Never successful, unless I pop open a can of Pillsbury. We'll get there! Hang in there. :o)
ReplyDeleteI'm a little annoyed that everyone's biscuits didn't rise nicely. Why? I don't get it either. Especially when I know we all follow Dorie's recipes pretty exactly. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteGlad they still tasted good.
I didn't tell anyone this, or on my blog, but the night I served the plain ones with dinner, my 2 year old took his and had a funny look on his face and tapped it on the table, like it was a rock. It was too funny. He had such a look of "what in the world is this?" Mine weren't hard as rocks, but he's only had rolls and things like that, and just knew something was different about it. We sure got a laugh out of it because of all things to think of as a rock, biscuits would be the thing!
Too bad they didn't rise. They look nice and tasty though.
ReplyDeleteI think the proof of the pudding is in the eating - the fact that they tasted delicious made them worth it. And they look good!
ReplyDeleteYou crack me up. It was my second time making biscuits, too, and mine were ALSO flops. ;)
ReplyDeleteI thought of another use - you could pretend they're hardtack, and you made them for some old time sailors. how about that?
Glad to hear that they tasted good! I don't have much biscuit experience, but I know that they can be tricky.
ReplyDeleteOooh, hardtack, an Autumn delicacy! At least they tasted good, just eat them with your eyes closed. :)
ReplyDeleteHilarious post! I'm glad you loved the flavor in spite of their, uh, lack of flakiness.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the flavor was good at least! The pumpkin patch cupcakes are so cute-I'm feeling inspired to whip up a batch today.
ReplyDelete