Sweet Potato Shortbread Bars #switchtosweet

Looking to change things up this year with your festive cooking? You will want to give this recipe below a try from American Sweet Potato Marketing Institute.

Think outside the box this holiday season and #switchtosweet! For a twist on traditional holiday recipes, consider including Sweet Potatoes to feed your family and guests with this delicious superfood. For your next party or potluck this holiday season, shake things up from your regular shortbread cookie recipe and try out this yummy Sweet Potato Shortbread Bar recipe!

Unlike regular potatoes, which are tubers, sweet potatoes are considered to be root vegetables. The root, however, is described as a tuberous root. Both sweet and regular potatoes grow under the soil, but they are very different when it comes to density, taste and nutrition.

American Sweet Potato Marketing Institute has brought to Canada a wealth of recipes that are versatile. Great for breakfast, lunch, dinner and desserts. Sweet potatoes are a healthy alternative. They contain no fat and almost 80% water. 100 grams sweet potato has only one quarter of the carbohydrates in the same amount of rice. Sometimes, sweet potatoes are referred to ‘superfoods’ because they carry enormous amounts of Beta Carotene, Vitamin A and Sodium.

Sweet-Potato-Shortbread-Bars

SWEET POTATO SHORTBREAD BARS

YIELD: 36 SQUARES

INGREDIENTS

CRUST:

1 cup (250 mL) all-purpose flour

½ cup (125 mL) unsalted butter, softened

1/3 cup (75 mL) icing sugar

2 tbsp (30 mL) cornstarch

½ tsp (2 mL) salt

TOPPING:

1½ cups (375 mL) cooked mashed American sweet potatoes

¼ cup (60 mL) melted unsalted butter

2 large eggs

1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract

½ cup (125 mL) all-purpose flour

¼ cup (50 mL) white sugar

¼ cup (50 mL) packed brown sugar

2 tsp (10 mL) ground cinnamon

1 tsp (5 mL) baking powder

½ tsp (2 mL) ground nutmeg

½ tsp (2 mL) salt

Garnish: icing sugar

Sweet-Potato-Shortbread-Bars-plate

METHOD

  1. Place all ingredients in food processor and pulse until combined. Press mixture
firmly into parchment-paper lined 9 x 9-inch (23 cm) baking pan and bake in preheated 350°F/180°C oven for 12 minutes. Remove from oven. Reduce heat to 325°F/165°C.
  2. Puree sweet potatoes, melted butter, eggs and vanilla together in a blender until smooth. Combine remaining topping ingredients together in a large bowl. Stir in sweet potato mixture until smooth.
  3. Spread filling evenly over crust. Bake until centre is set, about 25 minutes. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.
  4. Refrigerate until cold. Cut into squares. Place icing sugar in small fine-mesh strainer and tap side lightly to dust tops of bars with icing sugar.

Recipe created by Chef Sara Harrel on behalf of the American Sweet Potato Marketing Institute

How will you switch to sweet this holiday season?

Comments

  1. Robin Rue (@massholemommy) says

    Oooh yyn! Those sound awesome. I need to make a batch of these STAT!

  2. That looks delicious. I love sweet potato and I can’t wait to try your recipe.

  3. I don’t have to switch! I love sweet potatoes and eat them whenever I can. Generally I just bake them-split them open-sweet butter–maybe a dash of honey and I am good to go.

  4. These sure to sound and look good – We love sweet potatoes. And putting the ingredients in the food processor helps a lot – I actually do this with just the sweet pots and some plain yogurt for a healthy doggy treat – they beg for it before we go to sleep at night.

  5. Those sound really yummy. My son was just telling me he ate a pizza with a sweet potato crust recently and it was good. It’s amazing what all you can do with sweet potatoes.

  6. Oh these look delicious. I love a good sweet potato dessert. These would be really fun to make!

  7. I have never heard of these, but I love sweet potatoes so I know I would love this!

  8. This recipe is quite interesting . What a great twist, going to give it a try

  9. This looks interesting. It looks like a pumpkin texture

  10. These Sweet Potato Shortbread Bars look so delicious. I wish i could make them right now. I will have to try this recipe this weekend.

  11. I just had a sweet potato for the first time last year and loved it! I bet these bars would be so scrumptious too!

  12. I love sweet potato. It tastes good steamed, baked or boiled and then topped with butter. It is good for me to kill my hunger pangs because they are complex carbohydrates which means they make me feel full for a longer period of time. Thanks for sharing the recipe. I will try my best to make these shortbread bars this weekend.

  13. Wow this is an interesting combo. I’d never think to make a sweet potato shortbread bar, or anything containing the two. How neat, I must give it a try!

  14. Woah. These really looks yummy. I’m going to tell my wife to do some of this. Thanks for sharing your delicious recipe.

  15. I think sweet potato is a healthy alternative. I should really try this one during the holidays.

  16. Wow, what an interesting and tasty-looking way to use sweet potatoes. I have never seen a recipe quite like it. Thank you for sharing!

  17. I don’t think I’ve ever had a sweet potato dessert. What a great way to test it out though, these look really good.

  18. Janell @ Saving You Dinero says

    I love this idea! I want to eat more sweet potatoes and this is a great way to use them!

  19. I’ve never ever had any dessert made with sweet potato before. Which is funny because I LOVE sweet potatoes! This shortbread recipe looks delicious!

  20. I would never have thought to use sweet potatoe in a dessert! These sound delicious!

  21. Susan Patterson says

    I love sweet potatoes, so i would really like to try out this recipe! Thank you very much!

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