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October 2009

Product Reviews / Main Nibbles / Cookies, Cakes & Pastries

Recipes: Sweet Potato Desserts

Sweeten Up Some Already Sweet Treats

• Overview
• Ways To Add Sweet Potatoes Into Your Diet
• Marbeled Sweet Potato Cheesecake
• North Carolina Sweet Potato Crème Brûlée
• Old-Fashioned Sweet Potato Cobbler
• Sugar-Free Sweet Potato Pie

Overview

Contrary to popular belief, sweet potatoes are not actually potatoes, and are only distantly related to them. Yet, they’re as American as apple pie, as they have been grown by native Americans and subsequently cultivated in the southern U.S. since Colonial times. (Ever wonder what the difference is between a sweet potato and a yam? Click here to find out.)

Sweet potatoes have long been ranked high in nutritional value, and provide a good source of dietary fiber, which helps to provide feelings of fullness and satiety to control food intake. While they're low in fat, sweet potatoes are a rich source of potassium, vitamins A and E, antioxidants and beta-carotene. Sweet potatoes, therefore, contain significant deterrents to heart disease and stroke, according to the North Carolina SweetPotato Commission.

And unlike white potatoes, which have a high glycemic index and can cause a spike and an ultimate drop in blood sugar, sweet potatoes have a low glycemic index, which is beneficial for diabetics and others wanting to avoid glucose highs and lows. A low glycemic index is desirable, as it's a measure of how quickly glucose is absorbed after a person eats, how high glucose rises and how quickly it returns to normal.

Some easy ways to add more sweet potatoes to your diet include:

• Packing a baked sweet potato for lunch and topping it with vanilla yogurt or cinnamon-flavored applesauce
• Adding peeled chunks to your favorite stew.
• Switching from potato chips to sweet potato chips.
• Peeling and cutting one into strips to eat with your favorite dip.
• Blending one into a breakfast smoothie.
• Substituting sweet potatoes in recipes calling for white potatoes or apples.

Or, if you prefer your sweet potatoes to be extra sweet, consider incorporating them into familiar desserts, like cheesecake or cobbler. Click the black links above for recipes to discover how you can transform this vegetable into after-dinner delights, or check out the marbeled sweet potato cheesecake recipe below. Serves 16.

Marbeled Sweet Potato Cheesecake

Ingredients

Crust

• 2 cups finely crushed graham crackers
• 3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans
• 1/2 cup butter, melted

Cheesecake

• 4 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 cups mashed, cooked sweet potatoes
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 4 eggs
• 1 ounce semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled

Preparation

1. Combine crust ingredients in a bowl. Press mixture onto bottom and about 2 inches up the sides of a 10-inch springform pan; set aside.
2. Beat cream cheese and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until combined. Add sweet potatoes, cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg, ginger, salt and cloves. Beat well.
3. Add eggs all at once. Beat on low speed just until combined.
4. Remove 1/2 cup filling into a separate bowl and stir in melted chocolate.
5. Gently pour plain filling into springform pan. Drop small spoonfuls of chocolate mixture onto filling and use a spatula to gently swirl batters.
6. Place springfoam pan in a shallow baking pan on oven rack. Bake in a 375° oven about 40 minutes or until center of cheesecake appears nearly set when shaken.
7. Cool in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes.
8. Use a small metal spatula to loosen cake from side of pan. Cool 30 minutes more.
9. Remove the cake from the pan and let cool completely.

10. Place in refrigerator to chill for at least 6 hours.

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Information, recipe and photo courtesy of the North Carolina SweetPotato Commission. Other material © Copyright 2005- 2009 Lifestyle Direct, Inc. All rights reserved. Images are the copyright of their respective owners.