Orange Glazed Sweet Potatoes!

I love sweet potatoes just about any way you cook them, so I am always interested in a new sweet potato recipe.  They are so good for you also.  My mother came up with this "Orange Glazed  Sweet Potato" recipe and the addition of the citrus orange flavor really makes them special.  They would be perfect for the holidays or anytime.  They also smell wonderful cooking!  

 Here is what you will need for these:

3 lbs. sweet potatoes, cooked, peeled and sliced

1 cup brown sugar

5 tsp. cornstarch

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 cup orange juice

1/2 cup hot water

2 tsp. grated orange zest

1 Tbs. vanilla

2 Tbs. butter

1/2 cup chopped pecans

 Place the sweet potatoes in a 9"x13'' baking dish that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. 

In a saucepan, combine brown sugar, cornstarch, salt and cinnamon then stir in the orange juice, water and orange zest.  Bring to a boil stirring constantly.  Cook for 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in butter, vanilla and pecans. 

Pour over the sweet potatoes.  Bake at 350 uncovered for 25 minutes.   

 Spoon the glaze back over the sweet potatoes before serving!





Sweet Potato Muffins!

                                                                       

I love anything made with sweet potatoes so for me these muffins were right up my alley.  My husband, on the other hand, turns his nose up at sweet potatoes or anything with sweet potatoes in them.  He won't even taste it.   Occasionally, he will eat something made with pumpkin though. He says he likes pumpkin bread now.   If you have picky eaters to cook for, you probably know where I am going with this.  Ok, so I told him eventually they were sweet potato and not pumpkin, after he ate two and talked about how good they were!  Sometimes, I have to do things like this to get people at my house to try new things.  Sometimes, it works, sometimes it doesn't. 

I got this muffin recipe from my Aunt Ann, who is a wonderful southern cook.  She is very good at developing recipes also.  Here is what you will need for these tasty muffins: 

2 cups cold mashed sweet potatoes (you can use canned or cook your own from fresh sweet potatoes)
1 large egg
1/2 cup butter, melted (1 stick)
1/2 cup canola oil (or vegetable oil)
2 cups self rising flour*
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups sugar

*If you do not have self rising flour in your area, use the same amount of all purpose flour and add 2 tsp. baking powder and 1/4 tsp. salt.

Glaze
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
2 Tbs. milk
1 Tbs. butter, melted
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, combine the egg, sweet potatoes, butter and oil.  In another bowl mix the flour, sugar, and cinnamon.   Mix the two together lightly.  Do not over mix this.

Spray two 12 cup muffin tins well with nonstick spray.  Fill them each about 2/3 full.   Bake for 15-18 minutes.  A toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean.   Allow them to cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pan.  

Stir together glaze ingredients.  Drizzle over muffins.