Sweet Potato Muffins & Jamie Oliver



As I mentioned in my last post, it feels like I'm trying to get back into baking and breadmaking. For me, it's an odd thing to say since I've been baking and breadmaking since I was sixteen. As my previous posts have shown, our multiple moves last year played havoc with my daily kitchen fix.  While in reality, I'm actually baking a good bit. I'm busy making multiple batches of scones, biscuits, muffins and foccacia to fuel our two teenagers, who are working their way out of their current shoe size.

All of the hassle, the packing, the storage, the temporary apartment, and finally moving has truly been worth it. We're living closer to our families now, than we have in the past 20 years. At that time, we were living in Wichita and it wasn't that far to come to Houston. Years later, when work moved us from Washington, D.C. to New York, it turned out to be quite the journey. Our youngest was a toddler when we moved to New York and she didn't believe that a kid's car seat was anything anyone should sit in for any length of time. I think I've sustained some hearing loss from that period in our lives.

Recently, I was at our branch of the Houston Public Library and I came across a copy of Jamie Oliver's book, Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way To The Good Life.  The book is gorgeous with many inspiring photos of his garden and the food he makes from his crops. One of the photographs that caught my attention was for Butternut Squash Muffins with a Frosty Top. This muffin is the type that my teens love. They quickly gravitate towards these when they are hunting through the kitchen for something satisfying and filling to eat. I tweaked Jamie's recipe a little by reducing the amount of sugar since I was using sweet potatoes and by topping them with a light citrus gel.

If you'd like to see this recipe in metric, click here.

Enjoy!

Jamie's Muffins

3 whole sweet potatoes, baked, peeled, mashed
4 large eggs, whisked
1 tsp sea salt
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/4 cup cane sugar
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup oat flour (you can also use millet, corn, sorghum, etc)
1/2 cup sweet rice flour (you may also use tapioca, corn or potato starch)
1/2 cup arrowroot starch (you may also use one of the other starches)
1 tsp chia seed meal or 1 tsp xanthan/guar gum
Optional: 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Gel

1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 tsp vanilla flavoring
2 tsp agar agar powder (you may use gelatin)
2 - 3 Tb cane sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place about 15 to 18 silicone muffin cups on it. You can also use parchment paper lined muffin tins as well. In a medium bowl, add the liquid ingredients, including the mashed sweet potatoes and blend. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and throughly combine. Slowly, add the liquid ingredients and quickly blend together. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Allow to cool a little bit before topping with the citrus gel and zest.

In a small saucepan, combine the orange juice, sugar and agar agar or gelatin powder. Cook until the mixture begins to thicken, then add the vanilla flavoring. Remove from the heat and pour into a bowl for serving.