Baton Rouge Sweet Potato Casserole

I'm sure everyone west of the Mississippi has a sweet potato casserole recipe, but this one is my favorite.  It comes from my mother's family in Baton Rouge. This is the original recipe below, with my comments added in blue.  

8 med. sweet potatoes

1 stick butter (I use the Earth Balance buttery sticks)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar (I use evaporated cane juice)

2 eggs (E-n-rge egg replacer works well too)

1 tsp Vanilla

1/2 to 1 cup pecans ( 1 cup is too much for me), pre-roasted for 3-5 min.

Peel and boil sweet potatoes until soft. Use a mixer to blend cooked sweet potatoes, butter and sugars. Add 2 eggs and mix well. Add Vanilla and mix. Add pecans.

Spoon into buttered casserole dish. (It can be frozen at this point). (This is classic my mom and aunt--giving directions for freezing.  I guess this is why they never seemed stressed at the holidays!)

The day of the event, bake thawed casserole for 30 min on 350 degrees. Prior to serving put large marshmallows on top and bake until soft and browned on 400 degrees.

Butternut Squash Muffins

Ok, here it is--finally! The delicious butternut squash muffins! These are easy to make vegan, fat free, and whole wheat. You can make them non-vegan by using real eggs as well. I swiped Jamie Oliver's muffin recipe and tinkered around with it till I lowered the sugar and made it fat-free.

Note: The recipe calls for fresh squash, but I always use frozen because I'm in a hurry. I've used canned before, and it's ok, just a little on the heavy side. If you use fresh, I recommend you chop it up and boil for 5 minutes to soften.

Butternut Squash Muffins

14 ounces butternut squash, skin on, deseeded and roughly chopped or frozen cubed, boiled for 5 minutes.
1 1/4 cups light soft brown sugar
4 large eggs, or equiv. of Ener-G brand egg replacer
¾ cup unsweetened applesauce
Pinch of sea salt
2 1/2 cups white wheat flour (King Arthur makes this kind, or you can mix 1 ¼ cup all purpose + 1 ¼ cups whole wheat)
2 heaping teaspoons baking powder
Handful of walnuts, chopped (optional)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350*
Whiz up your squash, sugar, eggs, and applesauce in the blender, then set aside.
Mix your drys.
Slowly add your drys to the wets (squash mixture). Be sure you do not OVERMIX! Just mix till incorporated.
Pour into greased muffin pan—I have a pan that makes 12 big muffins, and I just fill them up to the top and it uses all the batter.Bake 20-23 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then pop them out.

Pumpkin Muffins!!!

My daughter LOVES these pumpkin muffins. I usually make a batch and freeze 1/2 of the batter in a zip lock bag. When you thaw it, just cut a corner off the bag, and squeeze directly into your muffin pans--kinda like a pastry bag. Very simple, no clean up.

2 c. canned pumpkin (or 1, 15 oz can)
2/3 c. water
2/3 c. unsweetened applesauce
2 tsp vanilla
3 c. whole wheat flour (pastry flour is best)
2 c. maple syrup OR 2 c. sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Oven preheated to 350*
Spray 24 muffin cups w/ nonstick spray, or line the muffin tins with paper liners (sprayed with nonstick spray).

Mix together your pumpkin, water, applesauce, and vanilla at high speed. I just throw mine in the blender. Stir in maple syrup. If you are using sugar, do NOT add here.

Mix all your dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Stir in your pumpkin mixture at low speed or with a large spoon. The secret to muffins is that you do not want to overmix your batter. Just mix until all ingredients are combined.
Throw the mixture into your muffin tins. You can sprinkle the tops with sugar, cinnamon, or add a few chocolate chips.
Bake 32-35 minutes, until a toothpick or knife inserted into center muffin comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 min, then flip over and pop 'em out. Make sure you cool completely before storing in a ziplock bag, or else they will get a bit over-soft.

You can store fully cooked muffins in the freezer if you wrap each one in plastic wrap, and then put them in a ziplock.

Mom's Pumpkin Bread

Sure, there are a million recipes out there for pumpkin bread, but none of them are as good as my mom's. I like to make this to give to my neighbors for X-mas. It's fun to put the loaves in the wagon and walk around the neighborhood with Noah passing them out. They freeze beautifully! You can get nice holiday-themed disposable loaf pans at most grocery stores (or Target) this time of year. Make all your loaves in one day, then freeze till you plan on delivering to save time. It's not a bad idea to bake a few extra, just in case you get invited to a last minute party or something (you social butterfly, you...)

Making this (and any baked good) with local pastured eggs makes the flavor even better. :)

Pumpkin Bread (a la Betty)
4 c. sugar (1/2 brown, 1/2 white)
1 c. vegetable or canola oil
1 can (1 lb. 13oz) pumpkin
1 egg
5 c. flour
4 tsp. baking soda
1 T. cinnamon
1 T. allspice
2 tsp. salt
1 c. raisins
2 c. nuts (optional) [walnuts are best!]

In a large mixing bowl, mix ingredients in order as given. Stir in raisins and nuts by hand last.
Bake in a preheated 350* oven for 1 hour, or until toothpick inserted in center is clean. Makes 3 loaves. (cut in 1/2 for one generous loaf or 2 small)

pumpkin loaf + eggnog + rum = yum!