Sweet Potato Oranges

I made these this past fall and I am SO excited to finally be posting them! When I was a baby, my favorite food was sweet potatoes -- I gobbled down so many baby food cans of mashed sweet potatoes...I just couldn't get enough! And now...I still LOVE them. I don't understand why people love regular baking potatoes so much. They are just bland and tasteless unless you add a bunch of cheese and sour cream, especially when compared with the magnificent sweet potato.  I was extremely happy with the flavor in this recipe; the potatoes compliment the oranges very well. And not only do these taste amazing, but they look absolutely fabulous and oh-so-impressive! Don't get me wrong...they were a bit of work -- having to scoop out the flesh of the oranges wasn't so easy. But it was totally worth it. The orange flavor is subtle and the brown sugar topping caramelizes the nuts, while seeping into the mashed potato mixture below. The result? Pure sweet potato bliss.

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

6 medium/large oranges

3 cups mashed, cooked sweet potatoes

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup loosely packed light brown sugar

2 eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup butter, softened, divided

1 tablespoon grated orange peel

1 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 cup (largely) chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Prepare oranges by cutting tops off, 1/4 to 1/2 inch down. Spoon out the flesh, leaving a shell.
3. In a large bowl combine sweet potatoes, sugar, orange juice, eggs, vanilla extract, 1/2 cup butter and grated orange peel. Spoon mixture into orange shells. Place in a deep casserole dish.
4. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine remaining 1/2 cup butter, brown sugar, flour and pecans. Cook until sugar dissolves in melted butter. Spoon over oranges. Fill casserole dish with water to reach 1/2 inch in depth.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.

Golden Sweet Potato Brownies

I'm not one to cut the chocolate out of a brownie, but this recipe seriously doesn't need it.  Similar to my Sweet Potato Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, this "brownie" is super moist, wonderfully sweet, with just the right amount of spice.  However, this recipe has more of a moist brownie-like texture than my cake recipe, and the cake part - or should I say "brownie" part - is a little sweeter as well.  These are not crumbly like brownies, though...I guess you could say they are stuck in the middle between a brownie and a cake.  The brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter make this recipe super sinfully rich. And the glaze on top is just delicious.  I don't recommend adding a frosting because that would make the dish a little too sweet.  I do, however, recommend adding the golden raisins (regular are fine too, but the golden complements the color better), and they are incredible when soaked in boiling orange juice for an hour. The shredded sweet potato (or yam) that you use melts away into the cake, similar to what a carrot cake would be like. I also love the sunny-orange-golden color this cake makes; it's unlike anything I've ever eaten before.  Do NOT use canned yams for this recipe because I have no idea how that would turn out!  I would think that it would make it too moist/wet.  Use fresh, shredded yams or sweet potatoes for the best results because they will be amazing!

Yield: 1 9x13 inch baking dish (about 20 servings)

Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups peeled and finely shredded sweet potato (or yam)
1 cup golden raisins (optional)

1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons milk

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg; stir into the batter just until blended. Fold in the shredded yam and (optional) raisins. Spread the batter evenly in the greased baking dish.
3. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted into the center, comes out clean. Mix together the confectioners' sugar, butter and milk until smooth. Spread over the brownies while they are still warm. They will absorb some of the glaze. Serve hot or warm.

Sweet Potato Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Woah now.  Sweet potato cake?  There's sweet potato pie...and pumpkin cake...and potato bread...and sweet potato casserole...but sweet potato cake?  Yeah okay so it sounds a little strange at first, but it's really not all that weird when you think about it.  Sweet potatoes are super similar to pumpkin, and there's pumpkin cake, so why not have a sweet potato cake?  At least this is what I was thinking before I made this magnificently scrumptious masterpiece.  I brought this to school for a party, and all my friends - and the teachers - raved about it. It is SO amazing.  The secret ingredient in this recipe is the beer.  I don't know the scientific reason for it, but beer makes baked goods so incredibly moist and have the softest texture.  Oh and I haven't even started on this cream cheese frosting.  It's like heaven in your mouth.  Beating it for 3 minutes makes it fluffy and it melts in your mouth.  And the cinnamon flavor mixed with the sweet potato flavor makes the whole dish just scream fall.  And with fall comes Thanksgiving(:  This cake may just be on our Thanksgiving table this year...

Yield: 1 9x13 inch pan

Ingredients
1 cup white sugar

3/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar

3/4 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups cooked, mashed sweet potatoes

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 pinch of nutmeg

Directions
1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9×13 inch baking dish.

2.Stir together the sugar and vegetable oil in a large bowl until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla and sweet potatoes. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon in a separate bowl; stir into the batter 1 cup at a time, alternating with the beer just until everything comes together. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.

3.Bake for 30-35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting (optional) or serving.

Melt-In-Your-Mouth Cream Cheese Frosting: 

• 1/2 cup of butter (1 stick), room temperature
• 8 oz of Philly cream cheese (1 package), room temperature
• 2 - 3 cups of powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Instructions

1 With an electric mixer, mix the butter and cream cheese together, about 3 minutes on medium speed until very smooth. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure even mixing.

2 Add the vanilla extract and mix. Slowly add the powdered sugar. Keep adding until you get to desired sweetness and thickness.

Sweet Potato Pancakes

Wow.  These were some really awesome pancakes.  Sweet Potatoes are one of my favorite foods; I have a sweet potato with my dinner about every other day at home.  We had a leftover sweet potato in the fridge, and I had been wanting to make myself some sweet potato pancakes ever since I saw them on the menu at Cracker Barrel...so I figured, "why not?"  I found a basic recipe online and { jazzed it up } with my own ingredients to make it tastier.  The result was absolutely fabulous.  My family and I wolfed so many of these down.  I had my pancakes with a variety of toppings (not all the ones listed below, of course) - pure maple syrup, maple butter, honey, whipped cream, and cinnamon sugar (not all on the same pancake, obviously).  I would have loved some chopped pecans to go with it, though...but we didn't have any (*sad face*).  These pancakes were so perfect; moist, flavorful, slightly sweet, soft, and fluffy - everything the perfect pancake should be.  I thought they wouldn't be sweet enough, since there's no sugar added to the pancakes themselves, but the sweet potato sweetened them very nicely. This is such an wonderful fall recipe.  I can't wait to make this again during the holiday season!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup mashed sweet potatoes *(see first direction below)

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 2 eggs, beaten

• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 
  

Garnish: maple syrup, chopped nuts, maple butter, marshmallows/fluff, shredded coconut,  brown sugar, whipped cream, cinnamon sugar, butter, honey, powdered sugar, cranberry sauce, etc. 

Directions:
1. If sweet potatos aren't cooked yet, place sweet potatoes in a medium saucepan of boiling water, and cook until tender but firm, about 15 minutes. Drain, and immediately immerse in cold water to loosen skins. Drain, remove skins, chop, and mash.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix mashed sweet potatoes, eggs, milk, vanilla, and butter in a separate medium bowl. Blend sweet potato mixture into the flour mixture to form a batter.
3. Preheat a lightly greased griddle over medium-high heat. Drop batter mixture onto the prepared griddle by heaping tablespoonfuls, and cook until golden brown, turning once with a spatula when the surface begins to bubble.
4.  Garnish with desired toppings if desired.  Serve immediately. 

Sweet Potato French Fries

 

  

 

You may freak out when I say this, but I hate normal french fries.  They taste like plain, boring, white potatoes...just crunchier and really salty.  Most people drool when they think of a hamburger with french fries, but I secretly gag inside. However, I'm a huge sucker for sweet potatoes.  They have so much more flavor than regular, bland, baked potatoes!  They're so sweet, and healthy!  Did you know that one sweet potato has about 700 percent of a person's daily dose of vitamin A?  And they're full of fiber.  I'm always coming up with different ways to make sweet potato french fries, but I could never cook them right.  They were either too crispy, thin, and burned, or too fat and soggy.  I wanted a sweet potato fry that was medium-large, perfectly crispy and salty on the outside, and soft and sweet on the inside.  Which is what this recipe is --- perfect.  The secret is just frying them!  I usually baked them, but that doesn't promise you a crispy outside and soft middle, like frying does.  Sure, frying is more unhealthy for you than baking is...but it's totally worth it.  Wanna offer me a hamburger with sweet potato french fries?  Now that's my kind of meal.

Yield: about 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 6 sweet potatoes, cut into French fries
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
• lots of sea salt to taste (or any other type of salt)

Directions:

1. Wash sweet potatoes and cut into long strips, about 1/2 inch thick. Place in ice water for about 15 minutes. Preheat deep fryer.
2.  Remove sweet potato fries from water and pat dry with paper towels. Place in hot oil about 350 degrees. Fry for about 5 minute of until golden brown. Remove from oil and allow to drain. Sprinkle with pepper and salt to taste.  Serve hot.

Puree of Apple-Rutabaga Soup

This is my new, all-time favorite soup recipe.  I recently went to a cooking class at a local country club, and the head chef made seven recipes for us.  Of all the recipes, this was my favorite.  It's super easy...the hardest part is just cutting up all the veggies.  But the recipe is so easy to memorize because the proportions are all almost the same.  This is so incredibly flavorful and the flavors are absolutely incredible together.  When you're cooking it, your entire house smells like fall...the wonderful aroma of fresh fruits and vegetables roasting in butter.  Mmmm.  My mom kept telling me she wasn't gonna like it because the thought of apples and rutabaga in soup grossed her out, but once she smelled it, she began to change her mind.  And then once she tasted it, she scraped her bowl clean and declared it "amazing."  My mom, dad and I had all of the soup in one sitting.  I'll definitely be making this again very soon.




Ingredients:
1 stick of whole butter
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup peeled, cored, rough chopped Granny Smith Apples
1 cup peeled, rough chopped Rutabaga
1 cup peeled, rough chopped butternut squash
1 cup peeled, rough chopped carrots
1 cup peeled, rough chopped sweet potatoes
1 quart rich chicken stock
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste


Instructions:
1. Melt butter in a heavy gauge sauce pot.  Add onion, apples, rutabaga, squash, carrots, and sweet potato.
2.  Saute over medium heat until onions are soft and translucent (about 5-7 minutes).  Add stock and simmer until all vegetables are tender and cooked through (about 40 minutes).
3.  Puree in blender, food processor or using a stick burr mixer.
4.  Return to heat, add cream and syrup.  Season soup with salt, pepper, and cayenne.  Bring back to a simmer. Serve.