elbales

The thing to know about Robin McKinley's blog writing is that she is very conversational in her style, which includes hilarious use of italics and a plethora of footnotes. In fact, the title of her blog?

Days in the Life*
* with footnotes

So I've copied and pasted and then restored the italics because her writing is so much more fun that way.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

2 large sweet potatoes

½ c slightly salted butter, melted

1 c all-purpose unbleached white flour

½ to 1 c wholemeal or (preferably) wholemeal spelt flour

¼ c malt syrup, for choice. I didn’t discover this stuff till I moved over here, so it may not be available in the States. Otherwise ¼ c honey is good, or 2T molasses, or 2T molasses and 2T granulated sugar. All of these will be much sweeter than the malt, which is fairly subtle

2 tsp baking powder

Stab two large sweet potatoes several times with a knife and put them in a moderate oven (in a pan. They will leak) for 30-45 minutes, till they are very soft. Let cool enough so you can handle them. Then cut (lengthwise) in half and scrape out the contents into a bowl. Add the melted butter and any runny sweetener and beat till smooth. An electric mixer is a boon here. When you’re done, if the mixture is any warmer than tepid, let it cool some more.

Now beat in the first cup of flour and if you’re using any granulated sugar, the sugar. I do this with a spoon although I suppose you could go on with a mixer. Then start adding the wholemeal flour roughly by handfuls. Shortly before you think you’ve added enough flour—you’re going to have to roll or pat this out, so it can’t be too sticky—add the baking powder.

You can then do it right, and roll it out (flour both your counter and the rolling pin), cut with a biscuit cutter, gather your scraps together and reroll and recut. This does make very stylish proper biscuits. Or you can cheat, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, and pat or roll (depending on how clever you are about using a rolling pin over a cookie sheet, ie with a brim, it does take a little practise) the dough out—don’t try to fill it up to the edges: the dough will be fairly elastic, and you can tell when it’s stretched as far as it wants to—and then cut it up into about twenty rectangles, or whatever shape and number look good to you as you stare down at that cookie sheet whilst thoughtfully waving a knife, which will grow back together again when they bake, but not too badly.

Bake at 425° (or possibly 450 if you trust your oven) 15-20 minutes. Eat them as soon as you won’t burn your mouth. Gloriously unspeakable vice includes splitting them, running them briefly under the grill to get faintly brown and crusty, and then loading ‘em with butter and maple syrup.