Snow Day Biscuits

Snow day fuel.

We had our first snow in New York City. I tumbled around happy all day in the snow and craved biscuits and soup for dinner.

Yam Biscuits

3/4 lb yams, peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tblsp sugar (brown or white)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 stick of chilled butter cut into 1/2 inch cubes, plus 2 tblsps
1/3 cup buttermilk

Boil yam cubes in salted water for about 10 minutes until very tender. It should be easy to crush the yams with a pinch. Drain and mash.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Generously butter the bottom and sides of of a 9 inch cake pan. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Add cubed butter to bowl and, rub in with fingers or fork until a medium meal forms. Separately mix mashed yams with buttermilk. Add to the flour and butter. Mix lightly with a fork until just incorporated.

The butter forms medium sized crumbs
when rubbed or cut into the flour

Scrape dough onto a floured working space. With floured hands pat dough 1 inch thick. Cut into 1 1/2 inch circles. The rim of a glass works beautifully if you don't have biscuit cutters. Transfer the biscuits to a greased cake pan. Gather scraps and pat dough a second time to 1 inch thickness. Cut more circles, and transfer to cake pan. Cutting biscuits a 3rd or 4th time will result in tougher biscuits, but I can't bear to throw away a buttery dough. Melt the additional 2 tablespoons of butter, and brush on top of biscuits. Bake for 20 minutes until risen and tops are golden.

Serve with chili, soup, stew, or any dish that needs sopping up. Awesome with a little jelly for breakfast. Perfect pocket food for the slopes. Lets be honest, you don't need any reason to eat biscuits other than hunger.