Sweet Potato Scones Recipe

As spring inches its way towards summer, heading outdoors for afternoon tea is becoming a sheer pleasure, especially when it includes the following Sweet Potato Scones recipe.
The color of these beauties is spectacular. Unlike most scones, which need a bit of extra time in the oven to achieve a golden top, these have that gorgeous vibe built right in thanks to the richly-hued sweet potatoes. These scones are tender and flavorful, and they have the delightful talent of pairing wonderfully with either sweet or savory fillings and toppings. They are sublime served alongside a big salad like our Arugula Salad with Candied Pecans, Balsamic Beet Salad, or Strawberry Hazelnut Salad with Balsamic Chicken and Goat Cheese.

 

Sweet Potatoes

I dug up a few of my sweet potatoes for this recipe, pulling them from the fragrant earth. You can use any old sweet potato for these scones, even canned or frozen ones if that’s all you can find, but I must say, freshly dug sweet potatoes gives them a luscious flavor and fragrance that can’t be beat.
You can make your sweet potato mash right before you make the scones, just be sure to let it cool first. Or, better yet, the next time you have sweet potatoes for dinner, set aside a cup or two and freeze them. Then you’re only ever a bit of defrosting away from hot, delicious sweet potato scones.

Dough

The beautiful thing about these scones is how easy they are to make. Thanks to the sweet potato mash that adds both substance and moisture, you can get away with using sunflower or vegetable oil instead of laboriously cutting in butter or shortening. If you love the flavor of butter, but don’t fancy cutting it in, simply melt it and stir it in like you would the oil.

 

Flavoring

While this Sweet Potato Scones recipe is great with the sweet potatoes as the star, I find they’re even better with a couple of additions. Try a sprinkling of powdered ginger or nutmeg and a drizzle of maple extract. These small additions add a deeper complexity to the flavor and really help the sweet potatoes to shine.

Savoring

As mentioned above, these scones are delectably versatile, whether devoured happily at brunch with a hot cup of our Brunch in Paris black tea or served at lunch alongside a crisp green salad such as a Savory Summer Veggie and Fava Bean Salad.
They can be served hot but plain with lashings of salted butter, or sweetened a bit when spread with Chai Infused Apple Butter or a spoonful of decadent port wine jelly.
My current favorite way to eat these scones is split in two, spread with a bit of chutney, and filled with shaved ham and sharp cheddar cheese before getting toasted just long enough for the cheese to melt. So delicious, especially for lunch with a salad on the side.
If you happen to have leftovers, Sweet Potato Scones are also great the next day cut in half, spread with sour cherry jam, topped with a thick slice of Havarti cheese and a sprinkling of thyme leaves, and toasted until the cheese begins to bubble.