Friday, September 5, 2014

Sweet Potato Muffins - 2 ways



 I love myself a good muffin but they are usually just a disguised cupcake for breakfast. While they are delicious, muffins have a lot of sugar, especially since my husbands favorite muffins are double chocolate chip. :) I found this recipe and fell in love. Absolutely zero white sugar and a veggie! Also this recipe has an option for gluten-free and dairy-free if that is something your family needs. Now don't let that scare you off! They are truly delicious, just enjoy eating a delicious muffin with an added bonus of knowing they are good for you!



This is lightly adapted from a recipe in Gwyneth Paltrow's cookbook "It's All Good". She does hers straight gluten free and dairy free. As my family has no allergies, I adapted it for a grain flour and dairy milk. Feel free to take a gander at the Gwyneth Paltrow Gluten-Free version if that's what your family needs.

Preheat the oven to 350. Grab a nice sweet potato and give it a few pricks with a fork. The potato will leak delicious sugary syrup as it cooks so put it on a cookie sheet or baking pan. Toss it in the oven and forget about it for an hour. I often do this even a day or two before I make these because it last in the fridge for a couple days. Just whenever I have an extra sweet potato I toss it in knowing I will need it for these muffins :)


Once the sweet potato is done, a fork will go completely through easily. Pull it out of the oven and let it cool until it is cool enough to handle.


  

Peel all the skin off the potato, this will be easy to do with just a butter knife and should just to come off with no resistance.

Toss the potato in your mixer and let it get nice and mashed. Add the maple syrup, olive oil, milk of choice, and vanilla.




We aren't talking about your Log Cabin syrup with all the high-fructose corn syrup. Use pure goodness Maple Syrup. While it can be a little pricey it is well worth it! The flavor is so good that we actually use less and it last longer then other syrups. We love the big bottle from Costco. 



There may still be a few little sweet potato lumps, just get a fork and mash up any big lumps on the side of the mixer. Mix well.



In a separate bowl mix all your dry ingredients ; Flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, Chinese five-spice, and cinnamon.



Chinese Five-Spice is super easy to find in your local grocery store in the spice section
 

Add the dry ingredients into the mixing bowl


Mix just until incorporated. You never want to over mix muffins.


Evenly distribute the mix between your muffin tins. I have found that muffin liners work best for this recipe but if you don't use liners just make sure to grease the pan really well. 



Pop these babies in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes


At 20 minutes pull them out and brush the tops with maple syrup. This is a must must must, it creates this delicious sweet crust for the top.



Pop them back in for 5 minutes to create that delicious maple flavor top



Pull them out a let them cool for a good 20 minutes before serving- they tend to stick to the muffin liner unless cooled. Serve them up with some delicious butter, jam, or any topping of your choice.



I do most of the baking while this little goober is napping so he was thrilled to wake up to a delicious smelling house and a sweet potato muffin for a afternoon snack.


We love Sweet Potato Muffins
 



 





 








Side note:

These muffins can easily be modified to be used as a "savory" muffin, i.e. substitute for a roll or corn bread with your favorite stew or chili. Just skip the cinnamon, don't brush the tops with maple syrup and reduce the maple syrup to 1/3 a cup.



*** Disclaimer we are real moms. Pictures will most likely be taken quickly on a iphone while we are prepping our real meal for our family. We may miss a few pictures of steps and photos will not be staged, edited, or professional. You may even see a few little finger or toe photobombs while our kids cook with us daily.

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