Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Sweet Potato Biscuit Memories

I'm just musing this morning. I've got my grandmother on my mind for some reason. Perhaps it is because I've been going through old pictures and she is in so many of them. She was such a big part of my life for so many years. She lived with us until I was a teen-ager and was the major cook and care-giver for us girls. When we girls got older, she moved out to live with her step-mother who had become widowed, but she didn't move far. I would go spend the night with her on many weekends and even spends weeks at a time at her house during the summer months. This went on up until the time I got married. I knew how much I loved her, but didn't realize how much she must have loved me until I had grandchildren of my own. I have a big lump in my throat just thinking about her and she has been gone almost 31 years. Alva Gertrude Rodgers Porter. Who I am today is, in large part, due to you.

What has this to do with Sweet Potato Biscuits? This morning I was preparing Ralph's breakfast and popped a piece of homemade fruit bread into the toaster. The smell of it brought back memories of my grandmother's sweet potato biscuits she would make. She knew that I loved them and some mornings she would get up very early and bake a couple of sweet potatos. Then she would have hot sweet potato biscuits for me when I got up. She would split the biscuits open and put butter on them. Sometime she would sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar, but usually not. They were perfect with nothing but butter. I've never been able to duplicate that taste and I've tried. She would take the warm, mashed sweet potato and stir in some shortening or lard. Then she would stir in some self-rising flour until it looked right. She would then knead it just a few times on her floured countertop and cut it into biscuits. She would put them into a bacon greased pan and bake in a hot oven until they were golden brown and delicious. I really would love to have one of those biscuits right now. Even more, I would love to have my grandmother.

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