Sweet Potato Meatballs and Biscuits - Tasty Tuesday Recipe

Ever since I meant Julie and Cristy from the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission, I've been on a mission to get creative with every day ingredients, starting with, over course, sweet potatoes.  I met Julie and Cristy at Type-A-Con last month and was totally intrigued by the way their recipes transformed such a well known ingredient.  I have to admit it took until practically the last day of the conference before I even visited their booth because at first, I just didn't get it.    When I finally, sauntered over and tasted the sweet potato turkey meatballs and scone, I was hooked.   I took the recipe card for home and as soon as I had the opportunity, I tried the meatball recipe and it was hit.  The boys loved it!  I admit, I don't have picky eaters so I'm usually not worried about what they'll eat (except for J-Dilla who has forged a personal war against fruit), but it's more how they'll eat - distraction is the name of the game.  I knew that burgers would be great for them so I made sweet potato turkey sliders (with cheese).

The recipe went over so well, that I couldn't wait to try another one (also, we had a bunch of sweet potatoes that we didn't want going bad).  That's when I thought about making biscuits for breakfast on Saturday, and turned to the sweet potato again.   This sweet potato biscuit recipe worried me a little because I had to decrease the measurements and had to make a substitution, but it still turned out great.  

Here is the original recipe:

Ingredients

• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons shortening   
• 1 cup mashed cooked sweet potatoes
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 cup milk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 F.
2. Into large mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Using pastry blender or two knives, cut shortening into flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal.
4. Blend in sweet potatoes and spices. Add milk and stir with fork until mixture comes together.
5. On lightly floured board, knead 10 times. Roll out to 1/2 inch thickness.
6. Cut with biscuit cutter dipped in flour. Arrange on ungreased baking sheet.
7. Bake in oven for 12 minutes or until golden and puffed.

Quick notes

Yield: 18 biscuits In my recipe I replaced the shortening with good old fashion unsalted butter.  I also cut all the measurements in half (which in retrospect was a bad idea because we had no leftovers - they were just that good).