Sweet Potato Biscuits

Spending the night at my nana's house was always an adventure growing up. She has a gargantuan playroom that was full of all our favorite toys, and her house sits on several acres of property in the Tennessee countryside, complete with a pond, a golf cart, a wide front porch, all kinds of wild birds and animals, and basically anything a country kid could desire.

My grandparents, Nana and Buck, are early risers. I'm talking like four-in-the-morning early. So when I spent the night at their place, I always made an effort to get up around six, when delicious breakfast smells would begin to waft through the house to the back bedroom where I slept.

I am blessed in the sense that both of my grandparents are incredible cooks. One of my favorite breakfast foods are these sweet potato biscuits that Buck has perfected over many years. He's a Georgia boy originally, and when I bite into one of these biscuits, I feel like I could be transported back to his boyhood home in Lagrange where he likely ate the same kinds of things at big, family breakfasts.

My favorite thing about them is that they're naturally vegan and I did not have to modify the recipe with milk and egg replacements. I don't mind using milk and egg replacements, but this recipe uses a simple list of wholesome ingredients that I just love!

You can slather margarine or vegan butter on these biscuits at the end of the baking to make them extra-scrumptious, but a sprinkle of cinnamon or sugar is good, too!

The sweet potato base of these biscuits makes them something you can feed your family guilt-free. Sweet potatoes are a great source of fiber, vitamins, and minerals. They have antioxidants that promote gut health and contain over 400% of your daily vitamin A requirement!

These biscuits are also surprisingly easy to make. My best advice is to watch them carefully as they cook in the oven. When it comes to biscuits, I think every oven bakes slightly differently, and you want these biscuits to turn no darker than golden brown, even if it makes for a shorter bake time. They don't rise too much, so expect a soft, flat biscuit that you can thin slice to eat with vegan butter or jam!

The Recipe

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Ingredients:

• 1 medium sweet potato
• 1/2 c. margarine or vegan butter, chilled and cubed
• 1 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. self-rising flour, or enough to roll out into a dough

Directions:

1. Peel the sweet potato, and cut it into cubes. Cook in boiling water until very tender, about fifteen minutes. Drain and mash in a mixing bowl.
2. Add 1/2 c. cold vegan butter while potatoes are still warm and allow to melt, stirring. Add sugar and mix well.
3. Add self-rising flour, working in small quantities, until the dough holds together well enough to roll out. It will be around 1/4 cup.
4. Roll out the dough on a floured surface until about 1/4 inch thick. Use a round cookie cutter or my favorite method, the open end of a small drinking glass, to cut out circles of biscuit dough.
5. Bake on a baking sheet at 350°F until the biscuits have slightly risen and turned golden brown, about thirty minutes. Enjoy!

Check out my other recipes:

Mama Eze's Jam Cake

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