One for Me, One for You

Sunday, November 11, 2007

We were invited to a friends’ house for dinner last night. My husband made the arrangements and forgot to ask what we should bring.  I feel naked showing up at someone’s home, especially for a meal, without something homemade to offer.  When he called back, we learned that the meal, dessert and wine were already taken care of.  I still couldn’t bring myself to show up without some food.  What to take?  I decided on a quick bread. They’re..uh, quick, they’re easy, they’re yummy and so versatile, doing duty as breakfast, as a snack, as a dessert or thrown in the freezer for the next time you need a hostess gift.  I’ve made pumpkin bread plenty of times so I decided to make up a recipe using the beautiful local sweet potato sitting on my counter.  The best part is that it makes two tasty loaves - one to keep at home and one to give away. What could be better? This would be a lovely hostess gift to take to Thanksgiving dinner if your host declines your request to make something.

Maple Sweet Potato Quick Bread

Mix together dry ingredients:

2 c. white whole wheat flour
1 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1 t. salt
1 1/2 t. baking soda
1 1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 c. brown sugar

In a separate bowl, mix together wet ingredients:

2 c. sweet potato puree (pumpkin or squash would work just as well)
1/2 c. maple syrup
2 T. flax seed meal mixed with 6 T. water*
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. canola oil
2 eggs

Topping:

1/3 c. oats mixed with 1 T. brown sugar

Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients until just combined. Stir in 2 c. chopped walnuts.  Pour into 2 greased loaf pans.  Sprinkle top of each loaf with the topping. 

Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes.

*This is the basic way to make a flax seed egg replacer:  mix 1 T. ground flax seeds with 3 T. water and let sit for a couple of minutes.  In this recipe, I used the equivalent of two eggs made from this mixture plus two of the real things. You could use four eggs instead or use all flax seed egg replacer using the above formula to equal four eggs.  You could also make this vegan by substituting soy milk or water for the cow’s milk.

The sweet potato, maple syrup, whole wheat flour, eggs and milk were local.