Sweet Potato Biscuits (Vegan)

Caitlin Williams's Note:

These biscuits are THE BEST!!! This recipe is adapted from a non-vegan recipe I got from Williams-Sonoma, so it can easily be converted back to non-vegan by using real butter and buttermilk in place of the soured soy milk. Keep the butter and shortening cold to make the biscuits flaky, and handle the dough as little as possible so they will be tender. Cutting the biscuits into rectangles avoids leaving scraps which would need to be rerolled, which can lead to tough biscuits, but I have found that rerolling them once doesn't have that much of an impact.

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 12

• 1 medium sweet potato
• 1 ¼ cups soymilk
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 2 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cake flour
• 5 teaspoons baking powder
• 4 teaspoons vegan sugar or 4 teaspoons sugar substitute , of your choice
• 2⁄3; cup cold vegetable shortening , cut into small pieces
• 4 tablespoons cold vegan margarine , cut into small pieces (I like Earth Balance)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Prick sweet potato several times with a fork, place it directly on the oven rack, and bake until very tender, about 1 1/4 hours.
3. Let cool completely.
4. Position oven rack in the top 1/3 of oven and preheat oven to 450°F.
5. Put vinegar into a liguid measuring cup and add the soy milk, this sours the soy milk for a buttermilk replacement.
6. Peel sweet potato and force it through the medium disk of a food mill, or a large-mesh sieve into a bowl.
7. Add soured soy milk and whisk until smooth.
8. In a large bowl, sift together the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder, and sugar (if using dry sweetener, add liquid sweetener to the wet mixture).
9. Add the shortening and butter and cut them into the dry ingredients using a a pastry blender, until they resemble corn kernals.
10. Add the wet mixture and stir until a soft, crumbly dough forms.
11. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead 8 to 10 times, until it just holds together.
12. Roll out and pat the dough into a rectangle 6 by 12 inches.
13. Using a knife or cookie cutter, cut the dough into 12 rectangular biscuits.
14. Transfer the biscuits to an ungreased insulated baking sheet (recommended) or doubled regular baking sheets.
15. Bake until the biscuits have risen and their edges and bottoms are lightly browned, 12 to 14 minutes.