Sweet Potato Biscuits

As I mentioned in my last post, I served a root vegetable soup to celebrate the Winter Solstice, and to encourage the sun to return after the longest night of the year.

What I didn't mention was that with the soup I served sweet potato biscuits - in round sun-like shapes of course.

Both my mother and my husband declared this to be the best use of sweet potatoes ever.

(It's a recipe from the a book I recommend to all bakers, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Easy Artisan Bread by Yvonne Ruperti. Her naan recipe is great too.)

Sweet potatoes are high in beta carotene and other antioxidants that are particularly good for the digestive tract. They are high in anti-inflammatories, and are also being studied for their ability to minimize the negative affects of heavy metals on the body. We should all be eating them regularly.

If, like mine, your family balks at eating these excellent orange tubers, try these biscuits. Serve them hot with butter and a healthy soup, and even the most reluctant sweet potato eater will dig in.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

1 large sweet potato (to make 1 cup mashed)

1 3/4 cups flour

2 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

8 tbsp unsalted butter, very soft

1/2 cup buttermilk

Scrub sweet potato well, and then prick it several times with a fork. Bake on a cookie sheet in a 425°F oven 30-40 minutes until soft. Let cool completely (about 45 minutes) then peel and mash. Keep one cup for this recipe and save any leftovers for another use. (Using too much sweet potato will make the dough wetter and harder to handle.)

Keep oven at 425°F.

Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir in the mashed potato, soft butter, and buttermilk until just combined.

(I can't find organic buttermilk, so instead I squeeze a couple of teaspoons of lemon juice into the bottom of a measuring cup, and then pour in regular organic milk to the 1/2 cup measure. I let it sit a couple of minutes before adding to the mix. It won't look like buttermilk, but it has the right chemistry to help the baking powder reactions that make the biscuits rise.)

On a well floured surface, pat or roll the dough to a rectangle 3/4 inch thick. This is a moist dough, so it's easier to just cut the rectangle into 12 squares. However, to make sun biscuits, cut rounds with a well-floured 2 1/4" cookie cutter. Push the cutter straight down and then up. Don't twist it or the biscuits won't rise as high. Push the trimmings together to make a 13th funny-looking biscuit.

Place the biscuits on a lined cookie sheet and bake 25 minutes until golden brown and set.

Makes 12-13 biscuits.