RECIPE: Sweet Potato Biscuits

RECIPE: Sweet Potato Biscuits
Recipe and Photo Submitted by Rick Beach

The idea of Sweet Potato Biscuits was new to me.  A friend (Bill White) on a Facebook group sent us his recipe.  It called for 1 1/2 cups of sugar or 2 cups of splenda, Molasses, and none of the spices we added.  We liked the idea of the sweet potatoes and set off to experiment.  Though this recipe varies wildly from Bill's recipe, We would still like to thank Bill for passing on the idea of Sweet Potato Biscuits.  We are sure there are more variations floating around out there.  We will be trying others.  Send us yours if you have a good one.

Also see a variation of this recipe as Pumpkin Biscuits


Ingredients

2 small Sweet Potatoes (Cooked, Peeled, and cooled)
3/4 dry powdered milk
Water (Add enough water to the 3/4 cup powdered milk to equal 1 1/4 cup of liquid milk
1/8 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/8 tsp Ground Clove
1 tsp    Cinnamon
5 Tbsp Agave Sweetener

3 Cups Flour
3 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
3/4 tsp Salt
3/4 Cup Crisco

In a mixing bowl mash the cooked, peeled, and cooled sweet potatoes with a potato masher.  Mix the dry milk and water together, then whisk the liquid into the mashed sweet potatoes.  Add the Nutmeg, Cloves, Cinnamon and Agave.  Whisk well.  This should be a wet pasty mixture.  About the consistency of cake batter.  Set aside

In another mixing bowl make basic biscuit mix by adding the Flour, Baking Powder, Baking Soda, and salt.  Whisk or sift these dry ingredients.  Next "cut in" the Crisco until the mixture is crumbly.

Next scrape the wet potato mixture in on top the the biscuit mix.  Stir and fold until combined.  Do not over mix.  Roll out about 1 inch thick on a floured bread board.  Cut biscuits 2 1/2 to 2/3/4 inch diameter (Biscuit cutter or top of a drinking glass works fine)  Once the biscuits are all cut (this size makes about 10) cover them on the floured bread board with a towel and let them set at room temperature for about 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400°

Place cut biscuits in a well greased Dutch Oven and bake at 400° for about 20 minutes.  I tested these in the kitchen oven using a cast iron "chicken fryer" with no lid.  I also did two of them on a cookie sheet.  The cookie sheet biscuits were starting to burn on the bottom, at 15 minutes.  The cast iron cooked great at 20 minutes. Adjust your baking time accordingly.

We served these hot with butter along with a bowl of Chicken soup.  We used the Chicken soup recipe found on this blog.

The DIY Corner: INSTALLING AN RV TYPE ROOF VENT

 This article is a sequence of photos depicting the basic installation process of an RV type crank up roof vent.  Installed on a sheet metal roof. This was being installed in the roof of a cargo trailer.  The installation is typical of many of the processes that must be performed.  But note, each installation might differ.  We were using a vent unit for 1 1/2 inch ceiling thickness.

STOP!!!!   Before purchasing the crank up type vent.  Consider the 12VDC powered vents such as the Fantastic brand.  I installed the crank up type, as shown.  After my first warm camping trip I quickly knew I had made an error.  I should have not tried going the "cheap" route.  Thankfully the opening/cut-out sizes was the same.  So at least the difficult part of the job was already done installing the crank vent. Luckily I was thinking ahead and had pre-wired power to this location.

In this case the interior of the trailer roof ribs were furred out 1 ½ inches to allow Styrofoam insulation and to give something to attach the interior ceiling finish skin.  This vent was being installed in the bathroom ceiling.  It was further recessed, to allow additional head room.  Wood framing was glued and screwed as needed.

12V Switched wiring and ground was run to where it can be accessed in the future should we ever wish to add a 12V fan unit in this location.  For now we are installing the basic crank up unit.  (As indicated this quickly changed)

What is shown here, including the necessary wood framing construction, layout, sheet metal cuts,  the vent installation, and clean-up, took approximately 2 1/2 hours.

Ceiling of bathroom area framed to install vent

 

Wood framing added to rough in size-4 pilot holes drilled at corners through the roofing skin

Once the wood frame was installed and double checked for rough in size.  Location guide holes were drilled up through the roofing skin.  Using an 1/8 inch drill bit, four holes were drilled from the interior, up through the sheet metal roofing.  These four holes marked the four corners of the roughed in frame.

Moving to the exterior, the four guide holes were located.  Using a straight edge, and a marker, a cutout was marked on the exterior size of the roof skin.

While several method could be used to start and complete the sheet metal cutout we chose to use a 1 ½ inch metal hole saw to cut four holes through the roof skin roughly inside the marked square, and near but not on the marked lines.

Outline of cut out marked (notice the small corner pilot holes

1 1/2 inch hole saw punched through roofing-Sheet metal cutting started

 

We used sheet metal shears or snips to make the roof skin cut out.  The pre-drilled 1 ½ inch holes made this job much easier to start and complete with a clean edge. 










Note: Sheet metal shears do come in 3 different cutting styles.  One makes a straight cut, another makes a left turning cut, and lastly the third is used to make a right turning cut.  While you might fight it and get the job done with just one style, there is much to be said for having the proper tools.  Having all 3, makes this job simple and produces a very clean and accurate edge.

 

Inside view of completed cut out-Blue sky.  Committed now!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vent unit dry fitted

 

Once you have the roof skin hole cut.  Dry fit the vent unit in the hole.  Mark around its outer perimeter on the exterior of the roof.  Then pull the vent unit back out.  Next using sealing clay tape (Comes in a kit with the Clay Tape and Screws), gently press the tape around the hole cut out, slightly overlapping the line you just drew.  Once you have the clay tape in place re-insert the vent unit into the roof cut out hole.  The clay tape should be showing about ¼ inch all around the screw flange of the vent unit.   The clay tape should show through all the vent flange screw holes too.  Once all is in place, start screwing in the screws (Hex Head ) through the vent flange.  Continue through the clay tape, through the roof skin, and into the wood framing on the interior side.  Start the screws in the middle of each side and work toward the corners to avoid puckering the sheet metal and creating a leak point.  We used a hex driver in a battery hand drill for this step. We set the screw break on the drill to break free once just snug and the clay depresses slightly.  If you don't have that luxury, finish off the tightening by hand so you don't over tighten, strip the hole, or break off a screw.

 

Once all the exterior screws are in place you should have a weather tight installation.  In our case we will complete our installation by installing the interior finish ring, once we have finished installing our finished ceiling panels.

Completed installation-Vent unit sealed with Clay Tape Sealing kit, and screwed through roof into the wood framing

  Below is the finished ceiling and the trimmed out shower

Trimmed out shower and finished ceiling.

 

Cast Iron Collector Corner: Cast Iron “Gem” Pan

Trying to ID this pan 

Manufacturer, history, era, worth, etc.

This is a “Gem” pan.  Smooth surfaced, more smooth than a modern day Lodge type cast iron.  The approximate dimensions of the pan are about 8 inches X 14 ½ inches which includes the two curved handle tabs.  The 8 oval depressions are about 2 ½ X 4 inches each.  There are no visible markings or numbers of any sort.  There are visible casting “gate” marks on underneath bottoms of several of the oval cups.  Each oval cup is ¾of an inch deep on the inside measure.

There is evidence of thick and scraped seasoning indicating it was used often.

We are very interested in people that still bake with these and hope many of you send us recipes we can test out in ours.  We will post some of the favorites in this article.

Remarks from readers providing what they believe to be history, era, etc, will be posted below in red font for others to learn and benefit from.  Also we need your recipes for use in this pan.  Comment on this blog or feel free to email to info@toponautic.com  Thanks so much in advance!

So far we have not dug up any documented evidence on age.  Some have submitted opinions it could be circa 1880, post Civil War?

"GEM" Recipe Links:
http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,gem_pan,FF.html

Also see our other Cast Iron Collector posts:

Martin Dutch Oven 

Recondition - Season your Cast Iron Cookware

Griswold 962 “Ebelskiver or Aebelskiver

Griswold 9 inch square smooth bottom Skillet

Cast Iron Collector Corner: IRON SKILLET 14

Trying to ID this skillet.  

Manufacturer, history, era, worth, etc.

Unmarked Wagner?

This is a cast iron skillet.  Smooth surfaced, more smooth than a modern day Lodge.  About half the weight of a 14 Lodge too.   The only identification is the 14 on the bottom at 12 o'clock from the handle.  It does have an unbroken heat ring around the outer perimeter of the bottom.

It cleaned up and seasoned real well and was put to use for the first time (in its life with us) making pizza.

Remarks from readers providing what they believe to be history, era, etc, will be posted below in red font for others to learn and benefit from.  Comment on this blog or feel free to email to info@toponautic.com  Thanks so much in advance!

Also see our other Cast Iron Collector posts:

Martin Dutch Oven 

Recondition - Season your Cast Iron Cookware

Griswold 962 “Ebelskiver or Aebelskiver

Griswold 9 inch square smooth bottom Skillet

Cast Iron “Gem’ Pan