I love Okinawan sweet potatoes, and I love scones, but don’t remember ever seeing a scone recipe using these potatoes. After stumbling across such a recipe on Feasting in Apartment 5B, which has a great explanation of how to keep the purple color of the Okinawan sweet potato, I loved the idea and wanted to add some whole wheat flour to increase the health factor.
After a few more attempts at different scone recipes, I was able to tweak the Okinawan sweet potato scone recipe just right so it has a TON of sweet potato flavor. After some practice, making scones is a lot easier than you would think. Now I can save tons of money by making this at home!
Why try an Okinawan Sweet Potato Scone?
This scone recipe is the perfect Asian twist on a European pastry. The Okinawan sweet potato adds just the right amount of sweetness, so it is a great breakfast or dessert. The Japanese often say, or at least my Japanese relatives often say, that a great dessert is “not too sweet”. This is that pastry!
Baking with whole wheat flour can be tough, so this scone recipe also has half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose flour, which helps to make this tender yet you’re not eating all simple carbs from the white flour. It is also sweetened with honey instead of granulated white sugar for an overall healthier sweet treat for breakfast or as a hearty snack with afternoon tea.
Why is my Okinawan sweet potato turning green?
It might be from the iron in the potato itself reacting with the skin when it is cooked. It might also be the potato getting exposed to air when being cooked. I usually see this when I cut the Okinawan sweet potato when it’s raw and then I cook it.
To make sure you keep that beautiful purple color and the Okinawan sweet potato doesn’t turn green, boil whole potatoes in water. Boiling the potato also helps the sweet potato stay moist compared to baking. Lastly, make sure you use acidic ingredients in your scone: honey, maple syrup, buttermilk (or homemade buttermilk: milk + vinegar), and keep the baking soda amounts low. If you don’t use the acidic ingredients, your sweet potato will turn green when you bake it and undo all of your hard work of boiling the potato!
Health Benefits: Okinawan Sweet Potato
Besides that beautiful purple color, there are tons of fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants in these spuds. It’s also lower on the glycemic index so you won’t have blood sugar spikes like you would eating something with regular processed sugar. The high fiber also helps to keep you feeling full so you’re not snacking within a couple hours of eating this scone.
Because of the sweetness, my family tends to prefer eating this potato as a snack rather than as a side dish to a savory meal. While I would like to have more potatoes over rice as a starch for a main dish, I am glad that they do enjoy eating this Okinawan sweet potato scone. I hope you will, too!
Looking for other tasty breakfast recipes? Take a look at some of these other approachable recipes.
Okinawan Sweet Potato Scone
Equipment
- 1 5-quart pot
- 1 Colander
- 1 Large bowl
- 1 Large baking sheet
- 1 pastry cutter
- 1 parchment paper or silicone baking mat
- 1 large cutting board
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups Okinawan sweet potato boiled and mashed (about 1 large potato)
- ½ cup milk
- 1 tbsp distilled white vinegar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour plus 1/4 cup for dusting cutting board
- 1 ¼ cup whole wheat flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ⅛ cup honey
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter diced into cubes
- 1 egg beaten
Instructions
- Wash and put the Okinawan sweet potato in a small pot with cold water. Put on burner with the cover on and set heat to high. Once water comes to a boil, turn the heat down to medium high and cook for 25 to 45 minutes (depending on the potato thickness) or until the potato is fork tender. (You can do this step ahead of time, like the night before you plan to bake.)
- Drain the potato and let cool until you can hold it with your hand to peel. Peel and mash the potato in a medium bowl once it’s cool.
- While the potato is cooling (or right when you plan to start gathering ingredients to bake), put the distilled vinegar in your milk for at least 10 minutes to make homemade “buttermilk”.
- Place the oven rack in the middle and preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat
- Mix flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl until well combined. Cut butter cubes into flour mixture with the pastry cutter until it resembles a coarse meal.
- Mix egg, honey, and “buttermilk” together until well mixed.
- Add sweet potato and egg mixture to flour and butter mixture and stir until just combined.
- Pour the mixture/dough onto a very well-floured cutting board. You will have to knead the dough for a few minutes for it to come together. You may need more than ¼ cup of flour for this if its' very humid. Once the dough is no longer extremely wet and sticky, shape it into a round circle about 8 inches thick.
- Cut the dough into 8 triangles and place them on the prepared baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 22 to 25 minutes until the top is golden brown.
- Cool on a cooling rack for at least 10 minutes, if you can wait that long!
