Growing up sweet potatoes never crossed my plate or my palate. My first encounter with this vegetable, and the American love of it, came in the form of a Thanksgiving staple: the sweet potato casserole with pecans and marshmallow topping. Unfortunately, for both me and sweet potatoes, this first encounter was far from a success. I liked the taste of the casserole, but not as a side dish – it was too sweet and too rich. So, I walked away thinking that sweet potatoes have no purpose other than making people who like to overindulge for holidays feel like they ate healthy because they just had some vegetables.

Luckily for me, over the years I slowly introduced myself to sweet potatoes, and I stand before you today, a complete sweet potato convert! My conversion was inspired not only by the fact that sweet potatoes are full of fiber and vitamin A, but my decision to break away from the social norms and expectations. I still can’t stand them on my dinner plate, but I do eat sweet potatoes for breakfast, snack and dessert. If you haven’t tried roasted sweet potato as a grab-and-go snack,  straight from the fridge and cold, you don’t know what you’ve been missing. I know it sounds weird, but do try it – cold roasted sweet potato snack will not disappoint you, I guarantee!

Over the last month I started experimenting with vegan cooking, and few days ago I ended up in the sweet potato heaven, better known as the Roasted Sweet Potato Butter (see recipe below). I was looking for something my family can use instead of butter and maple syrup on their favorite breakfast food, the pancakes. In the past I’ve come across apple butter and pumpkin butter, and the latter got me thinking that  So far we discovered that the Roasted Sweet Potato Butter works on pancakes, and toast, and chocolate mousse, and… It turns out, this simple spread is IT – 50% Thanksgiving, 50% Christmas, and 100% fabulously satisfying. I hope you enjoy it!

Roasted Sweet Potato Butter

What you’ll need:

3 large sweet potatoes

1 orange

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

What you’ll do:

1. Preheat oven to 425F (220C). Wash sweet potatoes under warm water, scrubbing them with the food brush and put them aside. Line a baking sheet with foil – I find that using foils saves time when it comes to clean-up – and place your potatoes on, nicely spaced out. Once the oven is ready, put it in and forget it for about 30 min. You can check if your potatoes are done by poking them with a fork – if it goes in without resistance your potatoes are done. Take them out and let them cool for at least 4 hours, best overnight.
2. Once the potatoes are completely cold, peel them and cut them into smaller chunks, about 1 in x 1 in (2.5 cm x 2.5 cm). The size of the chunks depends on the power of your blender, and for the one I have this is as big as the chunks can get to ensure smooth blending. Put your sweet potato in a food processor or a blender.
3. Add cinnamon and nutmeg.
4. Add zest of one orange – please remember to wash your orange before zesting!
5. Add juice of one orange or about 1/2 cup of orange juice.
6. Blend until smooth.
7. Store in the glass jar or another type of air-tight container for up to a week, but believe me, this Roasted Sweet Potato Butter will not stand a chance.

Note: Final consistency should be smooth, yet the butter should not be runny. You can adjust consistency to taste by adding more orange juice if needed so I recommend you start with 1/4 cup at first and add as you go, so you don’t end up with a sweet potato smoothie. There is nothing wrong with a sweet potato smoothie, of course, but that is a culinary story for another day!

Copyright © Eat the Vegan Rainbow, 2017