Crustless Sweet Potato Pie a lightened-up version of a fall favorite

Sweet potatoes were among the other items we hauled back from the Chickasaw-vendor roadside markets. Hubby fretted that the size of the potatoes, which were on the medium-to-small side and said they wouldn’t be too terrific for baking. I said no problem; I had a recipe that called for mashed ones that were just this size.

A gooey sweet-potato casserole with the nuts-and-marshmallow topping is highly popular this time of year and is a standard Thanksgiving accompaniment; I could tell this recipe (Sweet Potato Pie without the pie crust) was a lightened version of that one. The bottom layer consisted of the mushed-up sweet potatoes, with spices, butter, milk, and brown sugar added. The top layer was like a pecan pie, with nuts sprinkled on and a corn-syrup topping poured around. So it was like digging through a pecan pie layer to get to the potato layer. Sweet! But not overly sweet. I used it as a veggie to go with my main course last night, but it would be just as great saved for dessert with maybe a little fat-free whipped topping dotted on.

And oh, the pleasure of being in the same dwelling while this recipe (from “Celebrating a Healthy Harvest”) is baking! Cinnamon and nutmeg-y smells, combined with slightly cooler temperatures yesterday and the arrival of some new pecan-colored boots I’d ordered through the mail, made fall seem as though it was just around the block. How we’re all ready for it!

Sweet Potato Pecan Pie

3 cups mashed sweet potatoes

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 eggs (or 1/2 cup egg substitute)

2 tablespoons skim milk

2 teaspoons vanilla, divided

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 1/2 cups pecans, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together mashed sweet potatoes, brown sugar, eggs, milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg. Pour into a greased 8-inch-by-8-inch square baking pan. Spread mixture evenly. Spread chopped pecans over the sweet-potato mixture. Combine sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, corn syrup, and butter until completely mixed. Pour this mixture over pecans. Distribute evenly. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until the top is puffed up and golden brown. Cool for 30 minutes; serve. Makes 8 servings.

Oodles of syrupy pecans get weekend morning moving with this delectable French toast

This past Saturday morning called for a power breakfast that was needed to keep us pumped for a LO-O-O-O-NG day of errands. Time away to visit son and family out West had been terrific, but now we were back to get-serious time in terms of putting our lives here back in order.

Part of that re-entry involved catching up on those unavoidable tasks that pile up when we’re out of pocket. Wal-Mart, grocery, a little pre-Easter prep, etc., all awaited; some of those required Hubby’s presence. Fortify him well, I reasoned, so he’s a willing accomplice to all the “Honey-Do”s that lie ahead.

After the breakfast I hatched up, Hubby might well have been primed to say yes to diamonds and pearls (I didn’t try, mind you, but I could have.) Breakfast consisted of none other than a dish temptingly titled Praline-Pecan French Toast, adapted from a recipe out of a recent Southern Living magazine that featured old Southern standbys with a new twist. The recipe’s tagline read, “A short-order breakfast special gets an easy hands-off finish in the oven.”

I have to admit, this dish doesn’t look very promising when it’s baking. I had to keep peeking at it through the oven-door window and kept murmuring, “Southern Living, I don’t know about this . . ..” From top-side up it simply resembled a bunch of wheat-bread scraps stirred around in a bread bag and shaken out into a 13-inch-by-9-inch glass pan.

After I pulled the baked item from the oven, however, I turned the bread slices onto a dish with their bottom sides flipped over. During the cooking the bread had been baking in a pool of melted butter, brown sugar, sugar-free maple syrup, and broken pecans. Overnight the bread had soaked in a mixture of egg substitute, skim milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Once turned out onto its serving dish the pecan mixture in which it had baked became a crumbly, golden, nut topping that crowned the browned French toast. The broken nuts, saved from a previous pecan harvest from our pecan trees, had cooked up crisp and sweet. I sprinkled on a little powdered sugar, a requisite for any French toast. Then I summoned Hubby for the breakfast of his dreams.

Not one extra dab of syrup was needed for this breakfast delight, fit for a king (or the king of my house, anyway). Sure did make the errands that stretched out ahead look an awful lot sweeter.

Praline-Pecan French Toast

8-10 torn slices (day-old) whole-wheat bread

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar (or brown-sugar substitute)

1/3 cup butter, melted

2 tablespoons sugar-free maple syrup

3/4 cup chopped pecans

4 large eggs (or 1 cup egg substitute, lightly beaten)

1 cup skim milk

2 tablespoons granulated sugar (or sugar substitute)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

Stir together brown sugar and next two ingredients; pour into a lightly greased 13-inch-by-9-inch glass baking dish. Sprinkle broken pecans over brown-sugar mixture in baking dish. Whisk together eggs and next 4 ingredients. Arrange torn bread pieces over pecans; pour egg mixture over bread. Cover with plastic wrap and chill 8 hours or overnight. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake bread 35 to 37 minutes or until golden brown. Turn out, pecan-side up, into individual serving dishes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve immediately. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Nothing short of spectacular about New Year's breakfast of Cinnamon-Pecan Rolls

A New Year's breakfast deserves something spectacular. The most spectacular item our garden ever produces is its pecans. Unfortunately—for us and for scads of other people—this wasn't a pecan year, so we have to live with our memories (and our pecan supply nestled in our freezer). Thankfully we have ample nuts from the past year of great harvest, so we can rest on our laurels and look forward to better times, pecan-wise. Hopefully the every-other-year rule of pecan crops will hold true; this time next year we'll be rejoicing in a new harvest.

Meanwhile, onto the spectacular New Year's breakfast. This year I have a recent issue of Southern Living magazine to thank for motivating me to try this easy, feather-light yeast dough that rises in 30 minutes and makes the house smell absolutely fabulous while these rolls are cooking. Cinnamon-Pecan Rolls employed one cup of our pecans (I broke them into bits instead of chopping them) and called for them to be toasted for five minutes until fragrant (talk about another wonderful smell—toasted pecans fresh from being browned in the oven!)

The magic of this recipe occurs with the packaged hot-roll mix (I tested with Pillsbury Specialty Mix Hot Roll Mix), which contains the yeast as well as the flour mixture. The recipe instructs the cook to prepare the hot-roll dough as the package directs. Everything else is simple as pie (or as cinnamon rolls—the recipe says the mixture is "simple enough for a beginning baker".)

The recipe says this makes a dozen rolls, but I filled two full pans—making at least 18 plump cinnamon rounds—one batch to enjoy now and one to freeze for later.

With these simple rolls to welcome the celebratory morning, how can 2011 help but get off to a terrific start?

Cinnamon-Pecan Rolls

1 cup broken pecans

1 (16-ounce) package hot-roll mix

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar (1/2 cup if using brown-sugar substitute)

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Powdered sugar, sifted to make 1 cup

2 tablespoons milk (I use skim milk)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan 5 to 7 minutes or until toasted and fragrant. Stir halfway through. Prepare hot-roll dough as back of package directs; let dough stand 5 minutes. Roll dough into a 15-by-10-inch rectangle; spread with softened butter. Stir together brown sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over butter. Sprinkle pecans over brown-sugar mixture. Roll up tightly; start at one long end; cut into 12 slices (more if dough allows). Place rolls, cut sides down, in a lightly greased 12-inch cast-iron skillet or 13-by-9-inch glass pan. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and a cloth towel; let rise in a warm place (free from drafts) about 30 minutes or until rolls are doubled in bulk. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Uncover rolls and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until center rolls are golden brown and done. Let cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes. Stir together sifted powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla. Drizzle over rolls.