sweet potato biscuits

a martha stewart show (~2002) recipe i originally scribbled onto a
school menu with a purple crayon....and later got sick of trying to
decipher the crayon and looked it up on the net. yums warmed and with
butter. goes perfect with a sunday or easter ham dinner.

bake your yams! you can nuke them in the microwave & puree them in
the food processor or blender, but it works so much better to prick
them and wrap them in foil, tossing them in the oven to bake just like
regular potatoes. when they are nice and soft, i simply beat the hell
out of them with the electric mixer. no need to dirty all the blender
parts.

2 C unbleached flour
1 Tbls baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp ginger
3 Tbls brown sugar
grated orange zest
6 Tbls melted butter
~2/3 C buttermilk (or sour milk*)
1 C cooked, pureed sweet potato

(*sour milk = pour 1 T lemon juice into a glass measuring cup. fill to
the 1 C line with milk and let sit @ room temp for 5-10 min. it will
curdle.)

1. mix first 6 dry ingredients together. Add melted butter and blend until it has a crumbly texture.
2. stir in sweet potato until well blended.
3. add enough buttermilk to make a soft texture. knead a little more flour into the dough if it is sticky.
4. pat (don't roll!!) the dough to 1/2" thickness. cut with 2 " biscuit
cutter dipped in flour. place on parchment-paper-lined pan.
5. prick lightly with fork. brush with ~2Tbls melted butter.
6. bake @ 350* for 15 minutes.

do NOT re-roll dough! it makes the 2nd batch of biscuits tough. roll
the leftover scraps in cinna-sugar, twist and brush with butter, baking
on parchment as above to use the scraps. the more the dough is handled,
the tougher they taste.