Mom’s Delicious Accident
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here’s an unmistakable nostalgia that can leave any grown man with goose- Ever since anyone could first remember I was the one devouring the bread at dinner. bumps. This force can be found nurtured by returning to a playground One after another buttering a roll and spreading apple butter on bread without that used to be me and my friend’s stomping ground. The graffitied wall we mercy. I mean, nearly no sane human can deny the excellence that is a dinner roll, would throw tennis balls at mercilessly brings me back years to a simpler time. but they cannot truly defend their doughy honor without adding sweet potato Even the sight of long missed relatives or friend’s ushers forth emotions of inex- rolls to their arsenal. The strategy is to make the rolls a few days ahead of time and plicable proportions. The intense amount of things to catch up on and golden stash a few away for later secretive consumption while allowing enough to remain moments to reminisce upon are so perfectly irredeemable that we can stammer for each expected dinner guest to theoretically obtain second helpings since they on for hours without missing a beat. Alike moments shared with one another will surely want to do so. This is a process of eye balling and once again we cannot there is a certain element of humanity that is often overshadowed by “love” or the be held accountable for any unexpected guest’s inability to snag their fair share. concept of success. This is the very fuel we use to continue making these memories, The next step is to calculate into the amount that you have saved a few samples and to go onward enjoying our time together. for close friends who have not been blessed with the knowledge of the superior Food is the very encapsulation of love, success, family, and friendship. The way we potato roll. I give a few out to hope to continue pushing my delicious agenda, and share a bite as an icebreaker, to make someone feel better, or to bring people back hopefully spreading the tradition onto others. I stress to you that yes, I am not together has incredible range of meaning. Thanksgiving is a classic time for family sharing for other people to benefit, but I am sharing for far more selfish reasons of to congregate back together and enjoy the most important thing on the planet sweet potato roll world domination. together. My family is comprised of a culinary hierarchy. My mother is good with the The last part of this process is also very important. This is the same distribution proteins and desserts, my grandmother goes the old “add more butter to anything” methodology found when eating toaster strudels or cinnamon rolls. There is a route, and my aunt is the appetizer and wine pairing expert. precious ethereal element you either spread or drizzle atop the flaky vessel that
It was about 2012 when my mom made the awful mistake of trying out a new recipe she had found. It was a simple take on homemade potato rolls, but substituted with sweet potatoes for that sweeter, cakey flavor. After a singular bite of these I merely had to look up and make eye contact with my mother for her to know what she had done. I finished my sweet potato roll, making sure to pick up the crumbs leftover on my napkin with a licked finger for maximum indulgence, then stood up. I told her, “Well now you’ve got to make these every year, sorry about that.” There may be a multitude of dishes that make me feel incredible, but this was a breakthrough in potato roll technology.
attests to any person with a pulse’s corporeal appetites. In the case of the sweet potato roll it is the multiple butters that are prepared alongside the dish. Are the rolls sweet and bursting with immaculate taste on their own? Perhaps. Should we stop there and admit defeat against reaching a higher plane of flavor profiles? Never in my life will I do so. You’ll want to save the rolls, but preserve the butters until the actual meal so that you can glob fat amounts onto the rolls to achieve robust amounts of yum. This obviously requires a great amount of gusto from the roll stasher, but the suffering endured eating the unbuttered rolls will not be met without reward.
The normal spread of spreads represented are sage butter, honey butter, and lemon butter. Now hold onto your seatbelts because the process in which these are cultivated was found chiseled onto an ancient slab of andesite deep within the amazon rain forest. First you get butter, then you get a spoon and mix in some sage, honey, or lemon juice. An incredibly complex procedure relying on the sleight of hand of the person stirring said mixture to have studied underneath a master apothecary. Once these are all prepared you can honestly go in any direction with the butters. Make a cinnamon one, or spicy one, whatever floats your gravy boat. My mother’s beautiful mistake reckoned forth an era of sweet potato rolls storming our dinner tables. It started at a humble thanksgiving that we did not know would shift the balance of our meals from that day on. Next the rolls were requested at birthday dinners, super bowl parties, and even last meals on death row. Okay, not the death row thing, but I could totally see myself considering this if I were unlucky enough to be framed for something dreadful. Of the ever-growing list of family tradition foods that I must learn and continue to pass on for generations, these sweet potato rolls have rightfully earned themselves a place as a staple. They’ll continue to be an incentive to attend every family gathering since there is the opportunity of their appearance adding a few sweet potatoes to my stomach while simultaneously taking stress off my shoulders. The warmth I feel when sinking my teeth into these is not something to be taken lightly. Some may say I’m making a lot of noise over some sweet potato rolls, but I refuse to give anyone room to talk until they make room for the apotheosis of dinner rolls.
Ingredients Biscuits 1 sweet potato (about 8 oz/250g) 1 1/4 cups (10 fl oz/310 ml) buttermilk 2 1/2cups (12 1/2 /390 g) unbleached all-purpose (plain) flour 1 cup (4oz/125 g) cake soft-wheat) flour 5 teaspoons baking powder 4 teaspoons sugar 3/4 teaspoon salt 2/3 cup (6oz/185g) cold solid vegetable shortening, cut into small pieces Honey Butter 3/4cup (6oz/185g) unsalted butter, at room temperature 1/3 cup (4oz/125 g) honey
The Delicious Accident Sweet Potato Biscuits Make-Ahead Tip The sweet potato can be baked 1 day ahead and kept at room temperature. The dry and wet mixtures can be prepared several hours in advance, but do not combine them until you are ready to bake. The honey butter can be prepared several days ahead and refrigerated. Biscuit Savvy A few tips will result in great biscuits. Keeping the fats cold gives the biscuits flakiness. Handling the dough as little as possible keeps the biscuits tender. Some recipes call for gathering and rerolling scraps, which can lead to tough biscuits; cutting rectangular biscuits is a clever way to avoid this, as rectangles leave no scraps, cutting the biscuits with a straight down motion ensures an even shape, and baking them at high heat results in biscuits that rise high and brown handsomely.
Preheat the oven to 400째F (200째C). Prick the sweet potato several times with a fork. Place it directly on the oven rack and bake until very tender, about 1 1/4 hours. Let cool completely. (You can also cook the sweet potato in the microwave, however you will need to gauge the time depending on microwave. This usually takes 30-45 min). Position the rack in the upper third of the oven and raise the temperature to 450째F (230째C). Peel the sweet potato and force it through the medium disk of a food mill or a large-mesh sieve into a bowl. Add the buttermilk and whisk until smooth, then set it aside. In a large bowl, sift together the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Add the shortening and the butter, and using a pastry cutter, cut them into the dry ingredients until the pieces of fat resemble corn kernels. Add the buttermilk mixture and stir until a soft, crumbly dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead 8-10 times, until it just holds together. Roll and pat the dough out into a rectangle 6 by 12 inches (15 by 30 centimeters) in area. Using a knife or a cookie cutter, cut the dough into 12 rectangular biscuits. Transfer the biscuits to an ungreased insulated baking sheet or doubled regular baking sheet. Bake until the biscuits have risen and their edges and bottoms are lightly browned, 12-14 minutes. Meanwhile, make the honey butter. In a small bowl, cream together the butter and honey until light and fluffy. Serve the biscuits hot accompanied with the honey butter.