Sweet Potato & Cream Cheese Pie

Ingredients:
3 cups mashed roasted, sweet potatoes or yams
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon Saigon cinnamon
1 tablespoon dark rum
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients until will mixed. Stir in egg. Pour into a prepared pie shell, it is excellent with sweet potato chip pie crust. Smooth surface with the back of a spoon or spatula. Bake 20 minutes.

My thoughts:

I apologise for the slightly odd picture, I was a bit under the weather when I made this pie and didn't take many shots but it was so good, I really wanted to share it with you all. As you might know, I am not a big fan of sweet potatoes for dinner but I am happy to eat them in desserts. I am a bit picky though; I hate when I bite into a sweet potato pie and it is either way too sweet or just tastes like mashed sweet potatoes. Not an issue here. It is creamy but not terribly rich or cheesecake-y and sweet potato-y without being heavy. The perfect midwinter dessert.

Sweet Potato Chip Pie Crust

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 cup crushed sweet potato chips*
3/4 cup cold butter, sliced
1/4-1/2 cup cold water
pinch nutmeg
pinch ginger

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Place flour, spices and potato chips in a food processor and pulse once or twice to mix. Add the butter and pulse until it forms pebble-sized clumps. Add the cold water and pulse until the mixture forms a ball. Remove to a pie pan, and spread, using your fingertips, evenly across the bottom and up the sides. The dough will feel more like a thick paste than pie dough. Prick the bottom thoroughly with a fork and bake for 10 minutes then check on the crust. Prick again if it is rising very high and continue to bake an additional 10 minutes.

*I used an entire 6 oz bag of Terra Chips Sweet Potato & Cinnamon Chips

My thoughts:

I know this recipe sounds a little wacky but everyone who had it raved about it. It has a great, savory potato flavor which went wonderfully with sweet potato cream cheese pie filling.

Sweet Potato Rolls

Ingredients:

for the rolls:
4 cups flour
1 cup mashed roasted sweet potato
1/3 cup lukewarm water
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoons salt
1 oz dry yeast
2 eggs, at room temperature

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, sprinkle the yeast on the water. Using an electric mixer with a dough hook combine the yeast, butter, water, sugar, egg and sweet potato. Add the flour and mix on low until smooth. The mixture should become a sticky dough at this time but it shouldn't feel damp or look wet. If it does, mix in a small amount of flour. Knead on a floured surface or in a stand mixer until smooth but still slightly sticky. Place the ball of dough in a buttered bowl. Cover with a tea towel or loose plastic wrap and let rise for about 45 minutes or until it doubles in size.

Preheat oven to 350. Remove dough from bowl and break into 10 even pieces. Roll each into a ball. Place in two 9 inch round cake pans that have been lightly sprayed with nonstick baking spray, forming a circle with one roll in the middle. Allow to rise for 20 minutes.

Bake for 15 minutes or until fully cooked. Remove to a wire rack to cool for a minute then invert and pull apart to serve.

My thoughts:

Oh my, these were good. I am honestly not a huge fan of sweet potatoes, they are just too, well, sweet for me to eat at a regular meal. Too dessert-y. However, everyone else I know likes them so I am always trying to find a new way to use them that everyone (including me!) can enjoy. These completely fit the bill. They were a lovely light orange color and tasted like sweet potatoes but were still firmly a savory dinner roll. They were great spread with butter along side dinner but I am imagining leftovers transformed into rolls for sandwiches. They were wonderfully light and fluffy but substantial enough to hold some serious filling.


Note: This is a really forgiving recipe. Letting it rise for longer than the times listed here is perfectly fine.

Sweet Potato Muffins

Ingredients:
1 egg
1 1/4 cup mashed plain sweet potato*
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup flour
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground orange peel
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

optional: Demerara sugar for sprinkling

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease or line 12 wells in a muffin tin. In a large bowl, whisk together the spices, baking powder and both flours. Set aside. In another large bowl, beat together the oil, eggs and vanilla. Stir in the buttermilk then add the dry ingredients. Mix to combine. Fold in the mashed sweet potato. Divide evenly into wells. If desired, sprinkle the tops with demerara sugar.



Bake about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the center muffin comes out with just a few moist crumbs. Cool on a wire rack.

*I used 2 leftover baked sweet potatoes.

My thoughts:

I buy sweet potatoes and then I remember that I actually don't really like sweet potatoes very much. They are just too sweet for me to enjoy baked or as a side dish. As a muffin or a cupcake however, they are palatable. These muffins are pretty straightforward; a simple spice muffin made extra moist by the sweet potato. They are extra tasty served warm with a bit of butter.

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup flour
2/3 cup light brown sugar
2/3 cup milk
2/3 cup cooked sweet potatoes*, at room temperature
6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon mace
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1 egg, at room temperature

toasted marshmallow frosting



Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Line or grease and flour 12 wells in a cupcake pan. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg then mix thoroughly. Add flour, baking powder and salt to the butter mixture. In a small bowl, mix together the mix and potatoes. Add the mixture the rest of the batter and mix until well combined. Fill each well 2/3 of the way full. Bake 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted the center of a cupcake comes out clean or with just one or two dry crumbs. Cool briefly in the pan, then remove cupcakes to wire racks to cool completely before icing with toasted marshmallow frosting.




*This is a great way to use up leftover mashed or baked sweet potatoes or yams. Even something like these dressed up yams would work and be tasty but you would have to adjust the spices accordingly.

Spring this recipe!

My thoughts:

Sweet potato casserole has never made an appearance at any holiday table I've been to but I have read so much about it, I know it must be popular. I am against sweet side dishes or really anything sweet served at a time other than dessert or maybe breakfast but I have always been intrigued by the idea of the marshmallow topping. So I decided to make a cupcake out of it. The result: a super moist cupcake full of spice and sweet potatoes. The toasted marshmallow frosting is sweet, but the spice balances it and it just all comes together to make one really festive cupcake.


Note: I also think these would be good with vanilla cream cheese frosting.

Ginger Spiced Sweet Potato Pie

Ingredients:
3 sweet potatoes or yams, peeled, boiled and mashed
2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 egg, at room temperature
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

pecan halves for decoration

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, combine sweet potato, ginger, sugar, vanilla, brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, condensed milk and butter until will mixed. Taste for seasoning, adjust as needed. Stir in egg. Pour into a prepared pie shell, it is excellent with pecan pastry pie crust. Smooth surface with the back of a spoon or spatula and decorate with pecan halves. Bake 20 minutes.


Spring this recipe!

My thoughts:

I personally don't care for sweet side dishes and thus rarely serve sweet potatoes in any form. In this pie, however, the sweetness makes more sense and is tempered by the spice of the ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon. It is also a wonderful alternative to pumpkin pie around the holidays.