Perhaps the most over-looked, undervalued aspect of the Thanksgiving meal is the bread basket.  Now, I love a good dinner roll and I think that’s what ends up on the table most of the time. If you are lucky, you have a family member who specializes in good, old-fashioned Parker house or cloverleaf or fantan rolls and they provide them every year.  And make no mistake, there are in fact some mighty good frozen options out in the world.  But this year, why not give that lonely bread basket some love with some homemade biscuits, flavored just right for the holiday.

Pumpkin Sage Biscuits

You can use any size biscuit cutter you prefer.  For a big meal like Thanksgiving, a small, maybe 1 ½ inch cutter might be right.  I have also used a pumpkin shape cutter for these.

2 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for rolling)

1 Tablespoon light brown sugar

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

10 -12 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped

6 Tablespoons butter, cold and cut into small cubes

1/3 cup buttermilk, cold and well-shaken

¾ cups pumpkin puree (from a 15 ounce can)

1 Tablespoon butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Line a 9 inch round pan with parchment paper or spray it with cooking spray.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, stir together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda to combine.  Lightly stir in the chopped sage.  Drop the cubes of cold butter into the flour and with the paddle attachment, blend on low speed until the mixture looks like coarse meal, with a few pieces of butter still visible.

In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and pumpkin puree.  Add to the flour mixture and blend until the dough just comes together.  If the dough is too moist, add a bit more flour.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and pat into a circle about ½ inch thick.  Using a floured biscuit cutter, stamp out biscuits and transfer to the prepared pan, placing the biscuits close together and close to the sides of the pan.  Gently reform the dough and pat out again, and then cut out more biscuits.

Bake the biscuits for 10 minutes; remove from the oven and brush with the melted butter.  Return to the oven for another 2 minutes and bake until risen and lightly golden.

These will keep in an airtight container for 2 days, or you can make the dough, pat it out, wrap it in plastic and refrigerate overnight.  Cut and bake the next day.

Makes 1 dozen 2-inch biscuits