Sweet Potato Bars

I ran across this delicious recipe at Sweet Pea's Kitchen....she creates so many wonderful goodies.  These bars are moist and incredibly tasty.  Great dessert that whips together quick and easy.  The only change I would make would be to add a little more powdered sugar to the icing to give it a firmer texture.  I have so been craving sweet potato dishes lately and this hit the spot. Nom, Nom!


Sweet Potato Bars:
 4 eggs
1 2/3 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
1 3/4 cups mashed sweet potatoes*
2 cups unbleached flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Cream Cheese Frosting:
8 oz 1/3 fat cream cheese
1/2 cup Smart Balance 50/50 butter blend
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a bowl mix together the eggs, sugar, oil and sweet potato until well combined.  Add in flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda until just combined.  Spread the batter into greased 13x9 baking pan. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.  Cool.

For frosting mix together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add the sugar and vanilla mixing until combined. Spread on cooled sweet potato bars.  Cut into bars and chill until ready to serve. 

*Mashed Sweet Potatoes - I peeled, then boiled two sweet potatoes before mashing.

Sweet Potato Yeast Rolls

I've been wanting to give sweet potato yeast rolls a whirl.  I have this unending sweet potato craving in progress.  The dough is quite sticky so it's a bit of a pain to knead it before the first rise, but the slight annoyance is worth it.  The rolls turned out quite lovely, crusty on the outside and tender on the inside.  I think they would be perfect with a little honey or butter...I'm leaning towards honey.  ;)


Sweet Potato Yeast Rolls

1 package active dry yeast
2 cups spelt flour
3 to 4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups mashed sweet potato*
3 tbls vital wheat gluten
1 cup skim milk
2 tbls oil
1 tbls raw honey
1/4 tsp salt

Dissolve yeast in warm water...warm water from the tap works just fine. Heat milk in the microwave until warm and add to the yeast. Stir in the oil, honey, and salt. Mix in the spelt flour and vital wheat gluten. Mix in the mashed, sweet potato.  Gradually mix in the flour until the dough gets too difficult to work in the bowl. Turn out onto your work surface and continue to knead in flour.  The dough is going to be quite sticky to work with.  Knead the dough for several minutes. Place in a clean bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place for an hour. Dough should be doubled in size.

Grease two cookie sheets. Turn dough back out onto floured work surface. Using a knife, cut off a small bun sized portions of dough. Work it in your hand to give it a nice round shape. Generally I rotate the dough in one hand and turn the edges under with the other, adding flour as needed....this gives you a pretty little round.  Place your roll on the cookie sheet and repeat the shaping process with the remainder of the dough. Cover the rolls and let them rise in a warm place for 30 to 45 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until nicely browned. Makes about 18 rolls.

*I peeled, sliced, and boiled my sweet potatoes on the stove before mashing.


A couple more pics of the rolls...

The sweet potato gave these rolls such a pretty gold color.  They just cry out to be nibbled on.  The spelt flour is not a must of course...if you prefer wheat or all white flour that would work out fine as well.  Mmmm...some ground oatmeal would probably taste heavenly with the sweet potato actually. 

A little insider view....lookit that pretty crust!  Rawrrr.  Ahem.  ;)

Sweet Potato Fries

A tasty little side dish to go with our misc sandwiches and burgers.

Sweet Potato Fries

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Peel and slice sweet potato into wedges. Place on sprayed cookie sheet. Spray top of fries with Pam and sprinkle with black pepper and a cajun seasoning. Pop into oven for 12 minutes. Flip. Bake for another 10 minutes. Nom!

A little pre-baked view....
I've tried all different sized wedges and it doesn't matter so much how wide you make them as how thick. You can also do a brushing of olive oil instead of spraying with Pam....frankly I just like to spray and move along myself...eheheh.