Thursday, August 25, 2011
Sweet Potato Butter
by Erika Nicole Kendall
Upon visiting the grocery store, I learned that the sweet potatoes were only $0.29 per pound. Twenty-nine cents per pound. Ahhhhhhh, I’m in heaven! So not only did I buy up their entire selection, I got them home and started conspiring on how to make use of ‘em all. Enter… my sweet potato butter.
While I was working toward making my mashed sweet potatoes (one of MANY dishes I was about to enjoy from my phenomenal amount of sweet potatoes I got), I opted to cut my recipe short and veer off into another direction – sweet potato spread! If I can do it with apples and blueberries, why not sweet potatoes? It’s uncommon, but on the right crackers and breads (or pancakes… or waffles… or even ice cream…), it’s a wonderful little addition. My daughter adores this, so I figured you might find a use for it.
First, let me laugh a little – I’m not a photographer at all. I have an awesome camera, but I have no idea how to work it.. so I snap these shots with my cell phone. Stop laughing.
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 1/8th teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/8th teaspoon cloves
- 1/8th teaspoon allspice
- 1/4th cup brown sugar
Chop up your sweet potatoes into nice big chunks. Don’t worry about skinning it. Also, don’t use a bread knife. Knife almost took some of my fingers.
Toss your chunks into a nice sized pot full of water. Just enough water to cover your potato chunks.
After about 20 minutes, start checking your potatoes. Some people microwave ‘em instead of boiling. I can’t vouch for that method because I avoid my microwave, but I’m not against it.
Drain your pot, let the sweet potatoes cool, then take your chunks one by one to pinch off the skin. A simple pinching motion should do well to get rid of it.
All of your skinned chunks should be soft and in a bowl together, now. Take a potato masher, and get to work!
After enough work, drop in your spices – feel free to add a little cinnamon if you choose – and stir it up with a good wooden spoon. Then, grab your brown sugar and slowly start pouring it in. After about a quarter of your brown sugar, taste it a little.. gauge what you’re going for, here. At this point, you can go where you want with it. Make it taste more like sweet potato pie, add more cloves, whatever you desire. I made mine a little tangy by adding some molasses to it (just a tablespoon), and my little one adores it.
I keep extra jars in the house, so I just tossed this in a jar and ta-da!
Spread it on some water crackers for a nice snack! I don’t like it spread on wheat bread too well (at least with the kind I buy.. tastes like true-to-life cardboard to me) so the water crackers is my favorite bet. Enjoy!
Looking to count the nutritional info? Grab a SparkPeople account or a calorie counting app and plug in the ingredients!
Try this recipe, take a photo and send it in! E-mail your photo to photos@blackgirlsguidetoweightloss.com or send it via twitter to @inetespionage!
12 Comments
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i shall try this one day… would help a lot since i have nut allergies
—bellzie
This looks like a great recipe!
—Randi
I LOVE SWEET POTATOES. Saw this recipe and new it had to be a joke. Will be trying it tomorrow, have all ingredients on hand. Look forward to this.
—Talitha
you the bomb! ! thx
—Vanessa
This sounds awesome!!
—Shante
So how do you store it long term? Do you go through a whole canning process for these? If not, how long do they last?
Thanks for the recipe. I will have to try this soon!
—Stephanie
I just store it in a jar in the fridge, and it usually keeps for about 6 weeks, for me. Beyond that, it’s a wrap.
—Erika Nicole Kendall
Great recipe Erika! Any particular reason you remove the skin? Isn’t that a good source of nutrition? Or have I been misled?
—Tameika
Great recipe Erika! I will try this one, need a sweet alternative to apple butter. Also, I finally ordered the t-shirt today! Can’t wait to get it!
—Whitney
i’ve just made this, its sooooooo good. thanks for the recipe. loved it
—Shana
this is a keeper, sounds wonderful : )
—TraceyJoy
Mmmm…..since I love apple butter I’m definitely trying this!
—Johnnie