Ginger Sweet Potato Muffins

On my quest for finding healthy recipes, I ran across this recipe that sounded fantastic.  I'm really not a big fan of sweet potatoes but I thought these muffins sounded too good to pass up!  Enjoy!
The crystallized ginger, coconut milk, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie spices make these muffins a perfect Thanksgiving side dish.


Ginger Sweet Potato Muffins

Ingredients


•1/2 cup salted butter
•3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
•2 large eggs
•3/4 cup mashed sweet potatoes
•1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger root
•1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
•1/4 teaspoon baking soda
•1 teaspoon baking powder
•1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
•1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
•1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
•1/2 cup coconut milk
•1/2 cup minced crystallized ginger

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray 12 muffin tins with nonstick spray. Place butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat at high speed with an electric mixer for 30 seconds. Add eggs and continue to beat until mixture is very fluffy. Add mashed sweet potatoes and grated ginger root and beat at medium until blended. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice together. Fold in half of flour mixture. Stir in coconut milk. Fold in remaining flour mixture and crystallized ginger. The batter should be smooth, but be careful to not over mix. Fill prepared tins halfway with batter. Bake until muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Transfer muffin tins to a wire rack and cool for 10 minutes before removing muffins.

Jam Pancakes Flamed with Kirsch

Well it is officially October!  We took our annual trip to the State Fair of Texas yesterday.  We were there for about 9 hours.  It is so large that you just can't see everything in one day but, as always, we tried.  Needless to say, I was very tired and extremely sore from all of the walking.  And, of course, there is so much food!  October is a great month to try out all of the Oktoberfest recipes.  In my journey on the net, I ran across this unique recipe and wanted to share it with ya'll!

Jam Pancakes Flamed with Kirsch

Ingredients:
Filling
1 cup cherry preserves
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon kirsch (clear cherry brandy)

Pancakes
3 large eggs
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon whole milk
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon water
3 tablespoons corn oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons plus 1/3 cup kirsch
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
Additional corn oil
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted


For filling:
Mix preserves, lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon kirsch in small bowl.

For pancakes:
Combine first 7 ingredients, 1/4 cup sugar, and 3 tablespoons kirsch in blender. Blend until smooth. Add flour and blend until smooth. Let batter stand 1 hour.
Stir batter to blend. Lightly brush 7- to 8-inch-diameter nonstick skillet with oil; heat over medium heat. Using 3 tablespoons batter for each pancake, add batter to skillet and quickly tilt pan to coat bottom completely (pancake will be thin). Cook pancake until light golden on bottom, about 30 seconds. Turn pancake over and cook until bottom is pale golden, about 20 seconds. Transfer to plate. Repeat with remaining batter, brushing skillet lightly with oil before cooking each pancake and stacking pancakes on plate between sheets of waxed paper.
Butter 13x9x2-inch broilerproof baking dish. Place 1 pancake on work surface, pale side up. Spread scant 2 tablespoons filling over half of pancake. Fold other half of pancake over filling, then fold in half again, forming triangle. Repeat with 7 more pancakes and remaining filling. Arrange pancakes in prepared baking dish. (Can be prepared 6 hours ahead. Cover tightly and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before continuing.)
Preheat broiler. Drizzle melted butter over pancakes; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar. Broil just until edges of pancakes are brown, about 2 minutes.
Warm remaining 1/3 cup kirsch in small saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat. Using long match, carefully ignite kirsch; pour over pancakes. Divide pancakes among 4 plates. Sprinkle with almonds and serve.


As always, if you try this recipe, let me know how you liked it!