Sweet potato scones

My sister and brother in law went on a 3 week trip, and gave me one sweet potato from their larder so it wouldn't go bad. What the heck do you do with one sweet potato!


Sweet potato scones
adapted from a recipe by Rebecca Rather in the book The Pastry Queen Christmas via Dawn's Recipes blog.

3 cups whole wheat flour
optional: 1 to 2 T evaporated ground cane sugar (depending how sweet you like your scones)
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon sized slices

1/2 pound orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, cooked and pulped (1 large or 2 small sweet potatos)
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup sour cream thinned with a little apple cider

 Line a baking sheet with parchment, or grease it lightly. Bake or microwave the sweet potatoes: (Bake: prick a few times with a fork and bake them at 350 about 30-40 minutes.  Remove from oven and let them cool to touch, about 10 minutes. Microwave- prick several times with a fork, and zap on high 6 minutes. Turn so other face is up, and zap on medium another 4-6 minutes, until easily pierced with a sharp knife.)  Cut cooked potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop out flesh, placing it in a medium mixing bowl, and lightly mashing with a fork.  Cover the bowl and refrigerate until cool, at least 20 minutes. (Warm potatoes will melt the cold butter, making the scones heavy and tough.

Increase the oven temperature to 425F.  In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder & soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Use your hands or a pastry cutter to mix in the butter until the dough is crumbly and contains lumps the size of small peas. Mix together the sweet potatoes, honey and cream;  lightly stir into the flour mixture.  Add the sour cream mixture and stir until just mixed. Do not overwork the dough.

Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface.  Form the dough into a 12" disk, and cut into 6 wedges of equal size (for smaller scones, form two 8" discs). Transfer to prepared baking sheet. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until golden.

Sunday morning experiments

Haven't posted one of my experiments in a while, but this was just too delicious,

Coconut-mango drop scones

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t table salt

3/4 cup toasted shredded coconut

5 T unsalted butter

1 egg
2/3 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup honey
2 T lime marmalade
1/2 t vanilla

1 cup dried mango, cubed

Heat oven to 400ºF/204C. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

Toast the coconot in a dry pan until golden brown (keep it moving so it doesn't burn). Set aside until it cools. Whisk together first four ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate container (I use a two-cup pyrex measuring pitcher), mix together the egg through the vanilla.

When coconut is cool, mix it into the dry ingredients. Cube or grate butter and mix in, using a pastry cutter if needed. Add the drained mango. Don't overmix. Add the wet ingredients and mix until the entire batter is wet. Batter will be sticky.

Using a large spoon or ice cream scoop, place scoops on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes. Makes 15 medium scones.

You can freeze the unbaked batter for later baking. Place the scoops on a lined baking sheet and place in freezer. When fully frozen, put the scones in a plastic bag and bake just as many as you need. To bake frozen scones, heat oven to 400; when fully heated place the FROZEN scones on a parchment-lined pie plate or baking sheet and bake for about 17 minutes.

I also made mango-coconut coffee with the drained mango water and some coconut milk.