Showing posts with label Sweet Potato. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sweet Potato. Show all posts

Friday, March 20, 2009

#98_Sweet Potato Cream Tarts


No-bake, Bite-size Dessert.

My dear husband had a bad experience with
sweet potatoes when he was a kid and never liked them anymore after that.
So I had to persuade him to test taste these tarts.
After I handed him one to try, it took him awhile before he put it in his mouth.
When he finally did,I was anticipating a cringed or pulled face, but to
my amazement he bit and swallowed it like he was eating his
favorite
cheese cake.
This recipe won him over!

The taste is comparable to that of cheesecake or cream pie
and has several interesting textures going on in just one bite such as the following:
Flakiness from the shells, crunchiness from the nuts, and smoothness from the sweet potatoes.
The cream cheese and the marshmallow creme give it an incredibly good taste.
An addition of sugar is unnecessary as the sweet potatoes have natural sweetness already in them. Although the butterscotch caramel added an extra sweetness to the filling,
it did not result in a cloyingly sweet dessert.

This recipe is my second entry to the
North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission,
a recipe contest for bloggers where I was invited to join by manang.
Thank you manang!



This recipe only calls for a few ingredients. The main ingredient, of course,
is the sweet potato.

I used the store-bought shells so that is one less preparation to do.
Maybe next time when I get a little ambitious,
I will make the shells out of phyllo dough sheets,

but for now I am using "fill and serve" shells.

Here's the ingredients:

3 cups mashed sweet potatoes
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 small jar of marshmallow creme
1/2 cup chopped nuts for filling
2 packs (15 counts each) Fill-and-Serve pastry shells
chopped nuts for garnish
Chopped pecans can be added in the filling or used for garnish, or both.

For the filling:
1) Boil and mash about 2 medium size sweet potatoes.
2) Mix in the softened cream cheese.
4) Fold in the marshmallow creme.
5) Add in the chopped nuts.

Your friends would think you worked all day to make this dessert,
but after you boil the sweet potatoes,little would they know, you can actually put this together in just a few minutes.

The finale:

1) Fill tart shells with the filling.
2) Top them with chopped nuts.
3) Drizzle with butterscotch caramel.
4) Chill for about 2 hours before serving.

That's it! very simple and yet incredibly good!!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

#97_Coconut Flavored Sweet Potato Rolls a la Turon

No, these are not the typical turon! just clones.
These are sweet potatoes
with coconut cream
powder and brown sugar
wrapped in spring roll wrappers.

At first glance, one will think these are turon.
Yes,they might be in appearance, but they have totally different fillings.

By the way, turon is made of slices of bananas coated with
brown sugar
then wrapped in spring roll wrappers
and then fried in hot oil.
They are a very popular snack in the Philippines.


Inspired by the turon, I made this recipe out of slices of sweet potatoes coated with
coconut powder
and sugar mixture.
The coconut powder gives this recipe a unique flavor and is very easy to make.


This recipe is my first entry to a contest being sponsored by the

North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission.
Watch out for more recipes that I will be posting for this contest.

Manang of kusina ni manang invited me to join the contest
and I appreciate her for doing so.

Thank you manang !



Start by cooking the sweet potato either by steaming, boiling or
by pressure cooker
until just fork-tender

Peel then slice the cooked sweet potatoes lengthwise.

Combine 1/4 cup brown sugar and 4 heaping tablespoons of coconut powder.
Slightly moisten the slices of sweet potatoes with milk or water and coat each slice with thecoconut powder and sugar mixture.
This trick makes the mixture adhere more easily to the sliced pieces.


Take a piece of spring roll or egg roll wrapper and place it on a work surface
with a pointed side facing towards you.
Place a slice of sweet potato coated with the coconut powder/brown sugar mixture
on the wrapper about 1/3 of the way from the pointed side.


Fold the pointed side over the sweet potato and roll it up once.


Fold the left and right corners in and roll it all the way
to the other pointed side.
Don't worry about sealing the pointed seam with water or paste
as you do with egg rolls
as long as you place the seam side down first when frying.


Oops, I see one seam coming up!

Heat some canola oil in a frying pan, over medium heat.
Make sure that the oil is hot enough, but not smoking hot,
before you fry the wrapped sweet potatoes.

To test if the oil has reached the perfect temperature for frying them,
dip one end of a roll into the oil.

When the oil sizzles, it is ready for you to fry the wrapped sweet potatoes.
Fry them on all sides until golden brown.



COME ON, TAKE A BITE...
I KNOW YOU'LL LIKE IT!!



VARIATIONS:

1) Omit coconut cream powder and add string cheese (mozzarella).
2) Omit coconut cream powder and mix about 2 tsp of ground cinnamon into the brown sugar
3) Use phyllo dough instead of egg roll or spring roll wrappers.
Use about 4 stacks of phyllo dough sheets, brushing each sheet with melted butter and then bake them in the oven.

NOTE:
Coconut cream powder is found in any Asian store.