Candied Sweet Potato Purée Food

SWEET POTATO PUREE

Steps:

• Place a steamer insert or a mesh colander in a large pot and add enough water to reach the bottom of the steamer. Place the sweet potatoes in the steamer and bring the water to a boil. Cover the pot, lower the heat, and cook over simmering water for about 25 minutes, until very tender. Check occasionally to be sure the water doesn't boil away.
• Transfer the sweet potatoes to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. With the mixer on low, slowly add the half-and-half, orange zest, orange juice, cayenne pepper, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 teaspoon black pepper. With the mixer still on low, add the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, until incorporated. Taste for seasonings and mix until smooth. Serve hot.

CANDIED SWEET POTATOES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add potatoes and boil until slightly underdone, about 15 minutes. Drain, cool and peel.
• In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine margarine, brown sugar, 2 cups marshmallows, cinnamon and nutmeg. Cook, stirring occasionally, until marshmallows are melted.
• Stir potatoes into marshmallow sauce. While stirring mash about half of the potatoes, and break the others into bite-sized chunks. Transfer to prepared dish.
• Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cover top evenly with remaining marshmallows. Return to oven and bake until marshmallows are golden brown.

SWEET AND SPICY SWEET POTATO SOUP

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat; cook and stir shallots in the hot oil until soft, about 3 minutes. Stir apples, ginger, zest from 1 lime, red pepper flakes, and cayenne pepper into the pot. Reserve lime juice. Cook and stir mixture until apples are very soft, about 15 minutes.
• Pour chicken broth into pot; add sweet potatoes and salt. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Puree soup with an immersion blender until smooth. Stir reserved lime juice into soup. Garnish with lime wedges to serve.

CANDIED SWEET POTATOES

Steps:

• In a large pot, boil sweet potatoes in their jackets in water to cover until fork-tender, 20 to 45 minutes depending upon their size. Drain and cool.
• Heat oven to 450 degrees. Peel potatoes and slice into 1/2-inch-thick rounds. Place in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish or 2-quart gratin dish, overlapping slices to fit in one layer.
• In a small saucepan, melt butter. Whisk in sugar and salt until smooth. Pour evenly over the potatoes. Bake until potatoes look shiny and glazed, 25 to 30 minutes. Serve hot or warm.

SWEET POTATO CUPCAKES, BROWN SUGAR CREAM CHEESE FROSTING, CANDIED PECANS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with 18 paper liners, set aside.
• Make the sweet potato puree by processing the sweet potatoes in a food processor. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger and nutmeg.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and eggs. Add the dry ingredients. Whisk in the sweet potato puree. Fill each cupcake in the prepared pan three-quarters full of batter.
• Bake until the tops spring back when touched and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool.
• To assemble: Frost the cupcakes with the Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting. Sprinkle with the Candied Pecans.
• In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese until creamy. Add the butter and beat until well incorporated. Add the light brown sugar and beat until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, beating until well incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.
• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
• Beat the egg white in a bowl until frothy; whisk 4 teaspoons water and the vanilla extract into the egg. Stir the sugar, cinnamon and salt into the egg mixture. Add the chopped pecans, stir to coat completely. Spread the pecans onto the baking sheet. Bake the pecans, stirring about every 20 minutes, until the coating forms a glaze, about 1 hour. Allow to cool on the baking sheet.

CANDIED SWEET POTATOES

Steps:

• Peel and slice sweet potatoes. Put in a large pot of lightly salted water. Bring to a boil. Boil 5 minutes, drain and cool. Put sweet potatoes into a 2 quart casserole, dot with the butter. Mix sugar with next 8 ingredients and mix well. Sprinkle over sweet potatoes. Pour orange juice and lemon juice over sweet potatoes. Cover with the sliced oranges. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

CANDIED SWEET-POTATO PURéE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F. and line a baking sheet with foil.
• Prick sweet potatoes in several places with a fork and bake on baking sheet in middle of oven until very tender, 1 to 1 1/4 hours.
• Finely grate enough zest from orange to measure 1 teaspoon and squeeze enough juice from orange to measure 1/2 cup. In a small saucepan melt 4 tablespoons butter over moderate heat and stir in zest, orange juice, sugar, bourbon, nutmeg, and salt, stirring until sugar is dissolved.
• When potatoes are just cool enough to handle, peel and put flesh in a food processor. Add butter mixture and pur e just until smooth. Sweet-potato purée may be made up to this point 2 days ahead and chilled in a 1 1/2-quart shallow baking dish, covered. Reheat purée, covered, in middle of 350°F. oven. Transfer purée to a serving dish and dot with remaining 2 tablespoons butter, letting it melt to form pools.

SILKY SWEET POTATO PUREE

Steps:

• Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position; heat to 425 degrees. Place potatoes on a foil-lined pan; bake 45 to 60 minutes, until tender. Peel when cool enough to handle.
• Puree with salt and pepper in a food processor. With motor running, gradually add milks through feeder tube, then butter. Process until silken. (Can make up to 2 days ahead; store in an airtight container.) Reheat and serve.

ORANGE-GINGER SWEET POTATOES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375F.
• Bake potatoes on a cookie sheet until soft (approx. 1.5 hrs).
• When cool enough to handle, peel and chunk potatoes into a large bowl.
• Add butter and other ingredients and toss to mix.
• Mash potatoes thoroughly or puree in a blender. A hand mixer works well also.
• Lower oven temperature to 350F.
• Turn mashed potatoes into a casserole dish and dot the top with a bit of additional butter.
• Bake 30-40 minutes until hot.
• NOTE: This can be made ahead of time. Bring the mashed potato mixture to room temperature before dotting with butter and baking until hot.

POTATO CANDY

Steps:

• Mix together potatoes, butter or margarine, and milk. Add enough confectioners' sugar to make a stiff dough.
• Roll out on a flat surface sprinkled with powdered sugar. Spread on a layer of peanut butter and roll up. Chill and slice.