Some people crave salty snacks and others go for chocolate. Yesterday, I couldn’t stop thinking about sweet potatoes.
I picked up a bag of the sweet stuff from Trader Joe’s and we were all on board for a sensational side dish. The cold and gloomy gray day and the request for “something good” from the after school crowd pointed directly to muffins. So my idea of pleasing all involved (including me!) was to come up with my Sensational Sweet Potato Muffin recipe, which I am gleefully sharing with you, below. (You can bake a few extra sweet potatoes in the oven tonight when you’re making dinner and try your hand at some muffins tomorrow.)
Sensational Sweet Potato Bread/Muffins
Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
4 egg whites
½ cup canola oil
½ cup skim milk
½ teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2/3 cup water
2 cups mashed sweet potatoes (4 small)
1/3 cup sliced almonds
¾ cup chocolate chips (optional)
Cooking spray
Preheat oven to 350◦F
Add lemon juice to milk and set aside.
Spoon flours into dry measuring cups and level with a knife. Whisk together with the next 4 ingredients (through cinnamon) in a large bowl.
Combine sugar, egg whites, oil, milk/ lemon juice, vanilla extract, and eggs in a large bowl and beat with a hand mixer at a high speed until blended.
Add water and mashed sweet potatoes, beating at a low speed until blended together.
Add flower mixture to potato mixture and beat at a low speed just until combined (don’t over mix.) Stir in chocolate chips, if desired.
Coat 2 loaf pans (9 X 5 inch each) or muffin tins (24 muffins) with cooking spray.
Spoon batter into pans and fill half-way. Sprinkle almonds evenly over batter.
Bake breads (in loaf pans) for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, or bake muffins (in muffin tins) for 30 minutes and check as above.
Cool in pans for 10 minutes and then remove from pans and cool on wire rack.
Yield is either 2 loaves or 24 muffins. (On a personal note, I make one loaf and use the rest of the batter for muffins. The loaf goes in the freezer and the muffins barely stay on the countertop long enough to cool!)