Welcome to my first one-handed blog post.
I could put the baby down and gain the use of my second hand, yes. But he’s so cute. And he’s wearing the cuddliest onesie, and his hair is all soft and fuzzy and sweet-smelling because I just washed it. You see my predicament? I really can’t put him down.
Besides, I haven’t figured out the whole baby carrier thing yet.
So this hazelnut-topped sweet potato bake, I was going to make it for the Shabbos before my due date. Instead, I gave birth on Thursday and we spent Shabbos in the hospital. The food there actually wasn’t bad — but it was definitely not my hazelnut-topped sweet potato bake.
Luckily, sweet potatoes last a really long time. These waited a full three weeks to be used. Good as new!
You could probably call this a kugel, but to me it seems more elegant than anything called “kugel” could ever be. It’s totally the hazelnuts’ fault. First they’re roasted, then roughly chopped and tossed in a pan with a pat of butter and a spoonful of brown sugar. And pumpkin pie spice, because that stuff is heavenly. You could easily eat them like that, but wait! Don’t!
Sprinkle them on top of these soft sweet potato squares instead. Because hazelnuts and sweet potatoes? They’re delicious.
Almost as delicious as this sleeping baby with his pacifier hanging halfway out of his mini mouth. Almost…but not quite.
Hazelnut-topped sweet potato bake
Adapted from In Good Taste
Yield: About 15 two-inch sweet potato squares
Ingredients
Base:
- 4 medium-large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
- ½ cup whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 eggs
- ⅓ cup canola oil
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar, less 1 Tbsp
- 1 Israeli packet vanilla sugar (or 2½ tsp)
- ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
Topping:
- 1 cup roasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped
- 1 Tbsp butter (or margarine)
- 1 heaping Tbsp brown sugar
- pinch of pumpkin pie spice
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 F/180 C.
2. Cook sweet potatoes in a pot of boiling water until soft, about 15-20 minutes.
3. Combine flour, baking powder, eggs, oil, sugars, and pumpkin pie spice in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add sweet potatoes and mix on speed 1 or 2 until a smooth batter results. Pour into an ungreased 9″ x 13″ pan and spread out evenly. (Although I used my KitchenAid, you don’t need one for this recipe. A hand mixer would be fine — just mash the potatoes before adding them to the batter.)
4. To make the topping, melt butter in a small pan. Add hazelnuts, sugar, and pumpkin pie spice. Stir everything together and let it sit over a low flame for 3-5 minutes, stirring a couple more times throughout. Distribute evenly over the top of the sweet potatoes. If you like, press the topping down gently with a spatula.
5. Bake for 1 hour. Reheats well (and is most easily sliced when cold).
