Sweet Potato-Walnut Biscuits

I meant to post this recipe for sweet potato biscuits last week, but we left for the beach and the truth was it was so relaxing, I never thought about posting anything after we got there.  Guilty of taking too many beach walks.

Washington winter storms chase most everyone away. This makes the beach is so inviting in winter, it's almost like having your own beach.  This lodge is offers three nights for the price of two.  I love the fireplaces in the room and just over the dunes is the beach.

The dogs get to play on the beach.  They don't mind wind or rain.

I like finding colors against the grey winter sky.

On another note, we have also just adopted another basset hound.  Meet Olivia.  She's not quite a poser like my Cooking Assistant but she now likes raw carrots and apples, no big surprise right?  It's baking season again so the homemade dog biscuits just keep coming.

You can buy sweet potatoes locally in the Northwest. These are so good, you may never buy store-bought sweet potatoes again.

They need to be cooked first.  You can bake them or steam them.  Remove the skins before adding the cooked sweet potatoes to the biscuit mix.

I found this biscuit recipe in one of my long-time favorite cookbooks, which as you can probably see has gotten plenty of use since it was published in 1990.

In the stores, I get the variety called Jewel or Red Garnet yams, sweeter varieties with more moisture.  We call some sweet potatoes yams, but true yams are found in Africa and are quite different than these sweet starchy vegetables.

I had a bit of Nash's whole wheat pastry flour (a local farm) left and I used that.  I always end up using more of this flour than store bought varieties, maybe because it's fresh and has more moisture.  If you haven't ever used fresh locally grown flour, you should at least try it once. The flavor is so much better than the bland store bought flour.

Here is my version of this great recipe:

Sweet Potato-Walnut Drop Biscuits

(Makes about 9 large biscuits)

Breakfast, lunch or dinner, these biscuits are good any time.  Thank you Susan Jane Cheney! 

1 orange

1/3 cup almond, rice or soy milk

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts

1 cup cooked mashed sweet potato

3 tablespoons canola oil, melted Earth Balance baking sticks or butter

2 tablespoons maple syrup, plus enough for glazing

Preheat oven to 450F. Lightly oil a baking sheet or coat with parchment paper.

Grate the orange zest and juice the orange.  Add almond milk to make 2/3 cup of liquid.  

Measure 2 cups sifted flour into a bowl, add baking powder and soda and sift together. Stir in walnuts.  In another bowl combine mashed sweet potato, oil and maple syrup.  Blend the dry and wet ingredients together. Add enough flour for a fairly stiff dough that can still be dropped by spoonful.

Spoon 9 biscuits onto a baking sheet, spaced as far apart as possible.  Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until biscuits are browned.  Place them on a baking rack and lightly brush the tops with maple syrup.

Meanwhile at the beach, the sun made an appearance.