Sweet Potato Angel Biscuits...& another Give-Away

Angel biscuits are something I learned to make from my mother.  It was her way of having a quick yeast roll with little effort; in fact, it's also known as Bride's Biscuits because of the ease in making them up the first time she attempts a yeast bread:-)

Sweet potato is my addition, although, she love to bake sweet potato pies, but never thought about using them in breads.  I think they're just as fall as pumpkin and certainly adds a lot of nutritional value to these biscuits.  They are a root vegetable that, in addition, to being a simple starch, it is a complex carbohydrate, rich in beta carotene, dietary fiber, and Vitamins A, C, and B6.  

It was the first vegetable that Ari was given as a baby--his mama made it up in the Beeba Baby Food Processor.  He loved them!

Ari sitting on Bailey's perch, looking out at the snow (Christmas 2008)

Sweet Potato Angel Biscuits
5 cups King Arthur all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. Kosher salt
1 cup shortening
2 large sweet potatoes, roasted, peeled, and mashed
2 T (2 pkg) dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (110F-degrees)
1 tsp. honey

4 T butter, melted (for brushing the baking pan and the tops of the biscuits)

Preheat oven to 400F-degrees with a baking stone. Wash and poke holes into the sweet potatoes.  

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, testing with a fork or knife tip when they're soft enough. The skin should look shriveled.  Don't turn off the oven!

  Allow them to cool enough to handle, then peel and mash.

In a stand mixer, using a paddle attachment, add the dry ingredients and mix on low.  Meanwhile, in a 1 cup measuring cup, whisk the yeast into the warm water, adding the honey (to nourish the yeast!)

While the mixer is running on Speed #2, add the shortening, about 1 tablespoon at a time and continue mixing until it resembles coarse sand.

Add the mashed sweet potato and foamy yeast on low as the dough comes together.  Turn out onto a lightly floured bread board and knead lightly to a smooth disk.

Lightly flour the top of the dough and roll out to about 1/2-inch.  Use a 2-3 inch biscuit cutter.  Brush the baking sheet with the melted butter and place the biscuits on the sheet, just slightly apart.

Brush the tops of the biscuits with more melted butter and cover lightly with plastic wrap.

Let rest about 20 minutes--the biscuits should be almost doubled.

Bake in the 400F-degree oven for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown.

They may look like biscuits, but they're light and airy like rolls.  They certainly were delicious with a potato/spinach frittata and salad on this fall evening.

Now, the next Give-Away is also something Kelly would have chosen.  Whenever we traveled and explored little shops, Kelly loved buying homemade soaps, almost to an obsession.  So, the little bundle of Goat's Milk Soaps I've made up for today's give-away accompanies a change purse with the Vera Bradley latest pattern that supports breast cancer research--Ribbons.  Together it's just another small remembrance of Kelly's generous nature.  Enjoy!