Cooking Challenge: Sweet Potatoes

How about whipped sweet potatoes with cranberries? Mmmmmm....

Woah! That sounds awesome! Might have to try that for Thanksgiving... (not sure I can wait that long, though)

My recipe for this challenge: Sweet Potato Pie (with a nutty twist!) - Serves 8

*Disclaimer -- I have never made pie before, nor have I ever made pie without a recipe. It's not called a challenge for nothin'! :bigsmile:

This is the exact list of the ingredients I used. Following the recipe, I'll list my suggested changes. Since this was total trial and error, the recipe is far from perfect!

Crust:
12 Christie Honey Maid Graham Crackers, ground coarsely in the food processor
1 cup large flake oats
6 Tbsp PB2** (see note)
2 egg whites
2 Tbsp maple syrup
Cooking spray

Pie filling:
2 medium sized sweet potatoes, about 3 cups cooked
2 whole eggs
1/2 cup skim evaporated milk
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/4 cup chopped walnuts for topping

Preheat oven to 425F
Cook sweet potatoes until soft using whichever method you prefer. I pricked mine with a fork several times and nuked them on high in 3 mins intervals until they were cooked through. Leave aside to cool for 5-10 mins.

Using a food processor, break the graham crackers and oats into a coarse meal (I barely ground my oats). Combine graham crumbs, oats and PB2 in a medium sized bowl. Add egg whites and maple syrup. Using a spoon, combine mixture until it forms a wet crumble. Lightly coat a 9inch pie dish with cooking spray and line the bottom and sides with the crumb mixture. It will be quite sticky so wet your hands slightly to make this easier. Bake at 425F for 8-10 mins, or until slightly golden.

Lower heat to 350F
Remove the skin from your cooked sweet potatoes and mash in a bowl, or pass through the food processor, until smooth. In a separate medium sized mixing bowl, combine eggs, skim evaporated milk, brown sugar and spices for filling. Add potatoes and mix thoroughly. Fill the pre-baked pie shell and bake for 45 minutes, topping with chopped walnuts for the last 10 minutes.

** Note: If you are not familiar with PB2, it is a powdered peanut butter product that can be purchased through bellplantation.com - They have removed most of the oil from traditional natural peanut butter and turned it into a powdered form, which is ideal for mixing into dry ingredients. I just ordered and received this product and this is my first foray into baking with it. It has only 45 calories and 1.5g of fat per 2 Tbsp serving, making it a great addition to this low cal dessert!




Per serving
Calories 238
Carbs 36
Fat 7
Protein 9
Fiber 4
Sodium 153

I still have no idea how this recipe tastes - The pie is cooling in the kitchen and I'll wait until after dinner to dig in. Looks great though and will comment on the taste in a later update.

As for what I would change... When I was making the crust it was a lot of trial and error. Initially, I had intended on using only 1/2c of oats but the mixture was too wet. In the future I would use only 1/2c oats, 1-2 egg whites and 1 Tbsp of maple syrup (again, trial and error, really). If you wanted to cut down on calories and that, you could substitute the evaporated milk for skim or soy milk (adding 1/4 cup instead of 1/2 cup) or use sugar and egg substitutes. You could also omit the walnuts entirely.

-Meag

Update: Just had a piece of the sweet potato pie after dinner with some chai tea...

The filling was delicious! It paired so well with the walnuts and was definitely sweet enough - a very nice treat. The crust on the other hand was a bust. It turned out very hard and was really not that great. I am not sure whether that should be attributed to the egg whites or PB2, since I've used neither before in this capacity, but I imagine they could have both contributed. In the future I would use neither. Instead, I would use:

12 graham crackers, ground
1/2 cup oats, coarsely ground
2 Tbsp maple syrup
2 Tbsp apple sauce
1 tsp cinnamon

Mix together and bake at 425 for 8-10 mins. Should make for a decent crumble, and the pie could easily be turned out upside-down onto a serving plate, since the filling is quite solid (like a pumpkin pie, really). Overall, still calling this a success, but the recipe needs some tuning!
-Meag

Your pictures are always SO enticing, stuartme123!! I want to eat everything you make! haha Neat recipe find.

Boring as it is, I make the best baked sweet potatoes!

I bake them skin on in a 350 degree oven for 2 hrs. They come out so creamy you can't beat them!

I'm just gonna butt in and bump........
I LOVE sweet potatoes!

Did you know the picture you posted is of a yam, not a sweet potato?
Yams have the reddish skin with an oranger (is that a word??? lol) inside.
Sweet potatoes have a light brownish/tan skin and a much lighter inside.


I cube sweet potatoes, butternut and acorn squash, sprinkle with
olive oil, a sprinkle of dry onion soup mix and roast in the oven.
Love the crunchy exterior and soft interior.

No food counts, so not in for the judging!
Love all of your other posts and recipes!!

:flowerforyou:

Yum! They are so good for you!

Where I live, the orange yams are actually sold as sweet potatoes and proper sweet potatoes are really impossible to find. So we don't have much of a choice!
-Meag

Me too! Except it is yams that are harder to find unprepared, I think... XD

Update: Just had a piece of the sweet potato pie after dinner with some chai tea...

The filling was delicious! It paired so well with the walnuts and was definitely sweet enough - a very nice treat. The crust on the other hand was a bust. It turned out very hard and was really not that great. I am not sure whether that should be attributed to the egg whites or PB2, since I've used neither before in this capacity, but I imagine they could have both contributed. In the future I would use neither. Instead, I would use:

12 graham crackers, ground
1/2 cup oats, coarsely ground
2 Tbsp maple syrup
2 Tbsp apple sauce
1 tsp cinnamon

Mix together and bake at 425 for 8-10 mins. Should make for a decent crumble, and the pie could easily be turned out upside-down onto a serving plate, since the filling is quite solid (like a pumpkin pie, really). Overall, still calling this a success, but the recipe needs some tuning!
-Meag

Meag, this sounds awesome!! I don't really make desserts while I'm at school (barely enough time to make a proper dinner most nights...) but I definitely want to try making this for Thanksgiving at the end of Nov - usually my father has a monopoly on the desserts, but this seriously sounds too good not to try!