Everyone has shortcomings and failings. One of mine is definitely an inability to cut back on the amount and variety of food I prepare for parties. Thanksgiving is definitely my worst offender.
I have been known to make 8 different pies.
For a group of 12 people.
That wouldn’t be so bad if pie was the only thing I was serving. But I also go overboard with biscuits, cornbread, stuffing, dressing, vegetable sides, cranberry sauce, turkey (of course), and the list goes on.
But this isn’t a post about Thanksgiving. This is a post about how a friend who is a regular Thanksgiving guest requested my sweet potato biscuits as part of my May Day brunch. He thought they’d taste fantastic with bacon and maple syrup. He figured that’s the kind of thing Americans eat for brunch.
So I brought out what I think of as a fall dish, a dinner dish, a Thanksgiving dish for a spring brunch. And, just like at Thanksgiving, everyone loved them. They were gone in a flash.
I definitely, whole-heartedly, absolutely recommend that you never make less than a double batch of these. No matter how many people you’re feeding. A single batch will never be enough.
Sweet Potato Biscuits
Vegetarian Times Issue: March 1, 1999 p.30
Makes 12
Ingredients
2/3 cup soy milk
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 cup whole-grain pastry flour
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 Tbs. raw sugar (I just used regular white sugar)
1 Tbs. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup safflower oil
1 cup cooked, mashed sweet potatoes
Directions
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Preheat oven to 450°F.
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In small bowl, combine soy milk with lemon juice. Set aside. (Mixture will thicken and resemble buttermilk.)
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In medium bowl, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
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In large bowl, combine oil and mashed sweet potatoes. Alternately add dry ingredients and soy milk mixture to sweet potatoes to form a soft dough.
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Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead briefly. (Don’t overwork or biscuit will be tough.) Pat dough into a 12 x 9-inch rectangle about 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough with a floured round biscuit cutter. Place biscuits on a baking sheet, spacing about 1/2 inch apart. (Or, if you don’t feel like cutting them out, just drop them in large spoonfuls onto the baking sheet.) Bake until golden, about 8 to 10 minutes. Serve warm.