Christmas

Parsnip Biscuits with Black Pepper and Honey

by:
March 18, 2014
4.8
4 Ratings
Parsnip Biscuits with Black Pepper and Honey
  • Makes about 10 to 12 biscuits
Author Notes

Inspired by Edward Lee's recipe for parsnip biscuits in Smoke and Pickles, I decided to use leftover parsnip puree that our baby didn't eat in place of sweet potatoes in sweet potato biscuits, jazzing up the flavor with a good dose of savory and sweet through black pepper and honey. I think I like these even better than sweet potato biscuits! —fiveandspice

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 5 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
  • 1/2 cup puréed parsnips (just simmer small chunks of parsnip until quite tender, then purée)
  • 5 tablespoons honey
  • 1/2 cup cold buttermilk, plus more as needed
Directions
  1. Heat your oven to 425F. In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the flour, salt, baking powder, and black pepper until combined. Using your fingers or a pastry cutter, blend in the cold butter until there's a combination of coarse crumbs and pea-sized chunks.
  2. In another bowl, whisk together the parsnip puree, honey, and buttermilk until well blended. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and dump the wet ingredients into it (you'll probably have to use a rubber scraper to get all the honey out of the mixing bowl, it likes to stick), and stir just until you have a shaggy dough. If the mixture seems too dry, add a little more buttermilk one spoonful at a time until the mixture comes together in a sticky, shaggy dough.
  3. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and pat it out into a 1-inch thick (or so) square. Cut the square in half, place one half on top of the other and pat it back down to 1-inch thick. Cut in half and stack again, pat it back down. Cut in half and stack one more time and pat it down to a 3/4 or 1-inch thick rectangle. Cut the rectangle into square(ish) biscuits (I prefer this to cutting circles so I don't have to bother with rerolling scraps). Transfer biscuits to a baking sheet.
  4. Bake the biscuits until they're golden brown and puffed, about 13-15 minutes. Take out of the oven and transfer to a wire cooling rack. Eat these guys warm spread with butter and honey or as the foundation for an epic breakfast sandwich.
Tags:

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Ballondusoleil
    Ballondusoleil
  • eluu
    eluu
  • Zozo
    Zozo
  • Heather
    Heather

Popular on Food52

4 Reviews

Ballondusoleil
Ballondusoleil April 24, 2020
Thanks so much for this recipe! I made some modifications for my location (high altitude of approx 4,500 ft) by adding 1/4 tsp + 1 dash each of baking soda and salt, then to err on the side of caution, baked at 400F as per a plain biscuit recipe for high altitude with nearly the identical ingredient list and ratios (except honey & parsnips of course - I made sure the wet ingredients had approx the same ratio). I also added French Four Spice instead as it's plenty heavy on the pepper so I figured it would be pretty similar. 13 minutes on the middle rack was a touch long (the bottoms were a little too browned but not burned and just a smidge damp inside but still fantastic) so I might try the higher temperature next time but for a slightly shorter amount of time. I do recommend waiting until they've cooled to eat so you can actually taste the parsnip. I was too excited/impatient and ate two as soon as I could and while the texture and warmth is so very comforting I was really looking forward to tasting the parsnip which I couldn't detect fresh out of the oven. Patiently waiting now to eat a third biscuit and might have to make a second batch with the remaining puree. Thanks again!
 
eluu
eluu November 28, 2019
Really so lovely. Most everyone's favorite little thing on our Thanksgiving table. The pepper against the honey and the natural sweetness of the pureed parsnips made for such oddly delicate and bold flavor. I used a combination of some raw honey + silken smooth honey, and texturally so fun finding bits of chunky honey through the dough!
I would very much recommend this recipe. It's not so overwhelmingly with butter, and not at all complicated or comprising in great biscuity-ness essence. I'll be making these much more often!
 
Heather
Heather April 1, 2016
Made these last night and they are amazing! Only used about half the honey plus some brown rice syrup (which could've been eliminated) and I find them to be sweeter than I expected, plus the black pepper really catches you off guard! Love this recipe!
 
Zozo
Zozo November 15, 2015
Made this with carrots and they are some of the best I've had in a while! The honey is a brilliant addition. Thanks!!!