Sweet Potato Chips
Yam cookies and chips are the end result of our friend and listener Stephanie McCoy’s mission to make something delicious with yams. Stephanie’s husband is on a somewhat restricted diet right now, and it is not easy to find food that is filling and also tastes good. Yams/Sweet potatoes are on the A-okay list and her husband was so happy to find chips made from sweet potatoes at the store.
According to the package, they are “Good Thins”: No artificial colors, no artificial flavors, no cholesterol, no partially hydrogenated oils, no high fructose corn syrup. Great, right? Stephanie didn’t think so. Because, she turned that box over and read all the yes ingredients- the ones which actually were in those sweet potato chips.
You guessed right. Stephanie did not like what she was seeing and went to work.
She took this:
and turned it into this:
- Wash and scrub sweet potato thoroughly.
- Slice thinly – a Mandoline slicer can be used.
- Cook in garlic infused peanut oil (or oil of your choice).
- Salt on top if desired.
Yam Cookies
Now, Stephanie wanted something sweet and started right away to whip up a batch of delicious Yam cookies.
Here is her recipe:
For a batch of about 16 Yam cookies:
INGREDIENTS:
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 1/2 cup Butter
- 1/4 cup cooked Yams (Mashed)
- 1/2 Egg (break egg, whip)
- 1/2 cup White rice flour
- 1/2 cup organic yellow cornmeal
- 1/8 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 1 can Apricot Jam (optional)
DIRECTIONS:
1: In a large bowl, cream sugar and butter together.
2: Add yam.
3: Mix thoroughly.
4: Add egg and beat with mixer for 2 minutes at medium speed.
5: Add flours and salt.
6: Add vanilla.
7: Mix thoroughly.
8: Drop by teaspoonful onto greased baking sheet 2 inches apart.
9: Press with fork.
10: If you’d like you can make depression in middle with finger and put a dab of jam in depression.
11: Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.
Yam Cookies
Yam versus Sweet Potato
As most of you probably know, just about anything which is sold as a Yam in the United States is actually a Sweet Potato. Yams are a root vegetable as well, but they typically grow much bigger than a sweet potato, are starchy and not very sweet. They are mostly cultivated in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Carribean and belong to a different plant family than the Sweet Potato. Yams belong to the Dioscoreaceae or Yam family while the Sweet Potato belongs to the Convolvulacea or morning glory family. The confusion steams from the time when the orange fleshed sweet potatoes were first introduced to the American market. The yellow sweet potato, a hard fleshed variety, was already well loved and the importers decided to call the orange fleshed, soft cooking new comer “Yam” to avoid confusion. Oh well. That didn’t work out too well. Even though the USDA now requires that the orange fleshed tubers are labeled as sweet potato, most everybody still calls them Yams.
Whatever they are called, they are delicious and chock-full of nutrition. Today, many varieties of sweet potatoes are available ranging from the well known orange and yellow to purple, brown and variegated. International markets probably offer more choices than the regular grocery stores. The different colors can make your chip and cookie making an art adventure at the same time. Or at least add color to the table.
However, if you really like sweet potatoes, I highly recommend to grow your own and to order from the Sand Hill Preservation Center . They have 225 varieties. One of them is sure to become your favorite.
Recipe and most pictures are by Stephanie McCoy.
We do not endorse or contemn the company or product in the pictures, but invite everybody to always read the ingredient list before purchasing.
