In winter there’s often not too much going on, so on these cold and drizzly days we’ve been staying inside and baking.  We’ve amassed a collection of recipes to try, including this one, which we were a little skeptical about initially because sweet potato wouldn’t seem like a natural component of rolls.  But these looked good in the picture, so we thought we’d give them a whirl – and they were fantastic!  These rolls are some great, warm, rich nuggets of carb-y goodness, perfect as a snack, a side, or even your breakfast.  They do take some time and planning, but we’ll walk you through all the steps here.

You’ll need:

• A small sweet potato
• Buttermilk
• Butter
• Flour
• Yeast
• Sugar
• 2 eggs

To make your dough, cut your sweet potato into thumb-sized chunks and immerse them in a small saucepan with salted water.  Bring the water to a boil, then turn the heat down to a gentle boil and cook for 15 minutes.  Drain the potato chunks and mash with 1/2 cup of buttermilk and 1/4 cup of softened butter (that should be half of a stick).

Now place this sweet potato mash into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat at a medium-low speed for 5 minutes.  Add in 4 cups of flour, 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast, 2 tablespoons of sugar, a very large pinch of salt, and both your eggs.  Continue mixing everything together at the same speed for 5 to 10 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed, until the dough is smooth and mostly wrapped around the paddle.  Then rub butter on the inside of a new bowl and place the dough in it, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise for 1 1/2 hours.

When you’re ready, pull out chunks of dough that are around 65 grams each (you can use a food scale to measure them) and roll each one into a ball.  Place the ball onto a work surface and cover with your hand, then spin it a few times in a circle until the ends of the dough tuck underneath and you have very smooth dough balls.

Put these in a casserole dish greased all over with more butter – you’ll want them lined up and touching slightly.  Melt 2 tablespoons of butter and brush on top, then cover the dish and let these dough balls rise again for an hour.

Then bake at 375°F for 15-20 minutes, until they turn golden on top.  When they come out of the oven, brush with a tablespoon of melted butter and let cool for 20 minutes or so.

Then you can pull them apart and eat!

This definitely isn’t a quick recipe – aside from mixing and then shaping the dough, there’s also 2 1/2 hours of rising time in total, plus baking.  So you’ll need to start this recipe at least 3 hours before you want to eat, and don’t wait until you’re already hungry.  But we really did enjoy these rolls because they’re light and pillowy inside and nicely smooth on the outside, and it’s kind of fun to pull them apart as you’re taking one to eat.  The sweet potato adds a very light, extra note to make these just a little bit different from your typical rolls, so they do stand out as something unique.  All of this makes these perfect to bake up on a relaxing day when you don’t have much to do or anywhere to go and you can devote some of your free time to making some beautiful and delicious rolls.