Sweet potato ginger scones. Kinda just rolls off your tongue, don't you think? No? Me neither! But the combination is fantastic. As I started working on the recipe, I realized I've been on a baking spree. Black bean brownies a couple weeks ago, clean granola bar cookies last week and sweet potato ginger scones this week.
I consider myself more of a "cooker" and less of a "baker." Baking requires more precision and cooking (in my mind) means you can take a lot more chances, use fewer measuring cups and more or less wing it. As long as a recipe isn't over-salted, it can pretty much be saved, right? I love to cook, especially clean and functional foods. This recipe for sweet potato ginger cones is really clean, loaded with healthy ingredients and done in less than 45 minutes.
I often have fresh ginger sitting around in my kitchen. I love to soak sliced ginger in hot water with lemon, or add some cayenne and stevia to it for more of a cleansing effect. But this week I had this big old sweet potato sitting in a bowl next to the ginger crying out, "bake me." So I did. Then one of my cute little kitchen minions came in wearing the new chef's hat and apron she got for her birthday. She wanted to bake and this is what we came up with.
All the ingredients are right here: almond meal, quinoa flakes, honey, baking soda, all spice, apple sauce, a couple eggs and of course ginger and sweet potato.
Everything is pretty basic except for the quinoa flakes. You can usually find them in the cereal aisle. They're nothing but quinoa. If you have a hard time finding them, oats will suffice as well. Almond meal is really just ground up almonds. You can buy them ground, or you can use a food processor instead.
After I combined the almond meal, quinoa flakes, all spice and baking soda in a big bowl, I put my kitchen minion to work. She was happy to be working for scones, and did a great job stirring the mixture with her mini-me cook spoon.
While she went to town combining the dry ingredients, I started mashing up half of a large sweet potato (honestly, I've pulled a Dan Quayle every time I've written potato so far! There is no "e" at the end of potatoe potato. Sheesh!).
I mashed up the sweet potato with a large fork. I wanted to keep the mixture fairly lumpy and this worked out great. After the sweet potato was mashed enough, and before I passed the job off the my little helper, I added the eggs, apple sauce, vanilla and honey.
I prefer to work with fresh ginger, but if it's not accessible to you or if you have ginger powder you're aching to get rid of, go ahead an use it. The amount of ginger is up to you, but keep in mind, a teaspoon of ginger powder, for instance, will give a lot more flavor than fresh ginger. When it comes to dehydrated herbs and spices, a little goes a long way.
I used about an inch of fresh ginger for this recipe. The flavor was not overwhelming in the least bit. In fact, my kids never said a word about it. I could certainly pick up the flavor of ginger, but it was really pleasant. If you like ginger, add a little more.
Finally, I had my helper combine the ginger to the almond and sweet potato mixture.
At this point, the ginger and sweet potato, combined with the almond mixture were shaping up to be a home run!
After the mixture was thoroughly combined, scooped out 12 balls of soon-to-be scones and placed them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
I used an ice cream scooper to get the same size for each scone.
And here they are - the finished product. After spending 30 minutes baking on the oven, the scones were done. The only thing I think I might change next time is reducing the amount of apple sauce slightly. My kids loved these, so I don't want to fix what's not broken, but I prefer a drier scone. These were pretty moist - almost muffin-like. Regardless, the flavor of both the potato and ginger really complemented each other. Success!
The finished product!
Sweet Potato Ginger Scones
Yields 12 Scones
1/2 large sweet potato, baked and cooled
1 1/2 c. almond meal
1/2 c. quinoa flakes
1/3 c. honey
1/4 c. apple sauce
2 eggs
1 inch ginger, coarsely chopped
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. all spice
1/2 tsp. baking soda
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. In a large bowl, combine almond meal, quinoa flakes, all spice and baking soda. Mix thoroughly. In a medium-size bowl, mash sweet potato until it's semi-smooth. A few small lumps add to the texture of the finished scone. After the potato is a consistency you're happy with, add in honey, apple sauce, vanilla and eggs. Add the mixture, along with the chopped ginger, to the almond meal base. Scoop onto parchment paper and bake for 30 minutes.
Sit back, relax and enjoy with a cup of tea! Your work is done.
A lot of people ask me what foods should I eat that are right for my body type? This particular recipe is healthy for anyone, but great for apple or athlete types, in particular. The eggs and almond meal both provide healthy sources of fat and protein. Starting next week, I'm working with a bunch of my readers, maybe even you, on my new program called the 10LB Club. The 10LB Club is an ongoing program that includes regular weekly workouts, clean body-type recipes and coach by yours truly. Registration opens next week. Get more details here, and if you're interested in getting on the registration list, email me today.
