OMGSNAX!

i bought a sweet potato. i had to use it. end of story.

ps, what exactly makes these “louisiana”-style? i know i’m no expert, but i DID spend three of my formative childhood years in new orleans & i’ve never encountered anything like this. TRUTH IN ADVERTISING PLZ.

INGREDIENTS
3/4 pound sweet potatoes
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup butter, melted

METHOD
place sweet potatoes in a medium saucepan of boiling water & cook until tender but firm, about 15 minutes. drain, & immediately immerse in cold water to loosen skins. drain, remove skins, chop, & mash.

in a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, & nutmeg. mix mashed sweet potatoes, eggs, milk, & butter in a separate medium bowl. blend sweet potato mixture into the flour mixture to form a batter.

preheat a lightly greased griddle over medium-high heat. drop batter mixture onto the prepared griddle by heaping tablespoonfuls & cook until golden brown, turning once with a spatula when the surface begins to bubble.

DEVIATIONS & OBSERVATIONS
i considered adding brown sugar or, at the very least, cinnamon — after all, according to most sweet potato fans, the SWEET is the good part. (i’d be inclined to agree, as i don’t really like potatoes so i know it can’t be the POTATO part.) however, i refrained from doctoring the recipe b/c i didn’t want to be responsible for its failure if indeed it were to fail. (spoiler alert: IT DID.)

so ok, first off, & i’m not ashamed to admit this, i don’t know how to mash potatoes. i mean, i understand it conceptually — cook, then smush — but how long to cook? peeled or not peeled? whole or chopped? i liked this recipe b/c it seemed like a no-brainer, but when i followed the directions & the center of the sweet potato was still raw after i’d already slip-skinned it & chopped it? i wasn’t sure. so i just stuck the sweet potato chunks back in some boiling water for another ten minutes & hoped that waterlogging wouldn’t be a surprise issue.

tender but firm

three cheers for katy’s potato masher

the rest of the recipe went off without a hitch, including the actual pancake making part (thanks to my early-year tutorial from daniel), but then there was the reality of the thing, namely: i don’t like pancakes. i guess i thought maybe these would be more sweet potatoey & less, uh, pancakey, but no.

flapjack central

on the plus side, i’ve renewed my conviction that i do, indeed, detest pancakes. that texture — YUCK.

daniel said, “well, they can’t all be winners,” & continued eating his. i asked if he wanted to finish mine, too, & he quickly said, “oh NO, i wouldn’t go that far.” so there you have it. tolerable enough for him to clean his own plate (due to an aversion to being wasteful), but not good enough for him to have seconds.

shoulda made the sweet potato latkes instead.

 

 

“Louisiana Sweet Potato Pancakes” from allrecipes.com.

last week, when i asked for suggestions for the next OMGSNAX! recipe, daniel requested “cinnamon raisin biscuits, like hardee’s used to make” — & since the last couple attempts were things he definitely doesn’t like, i thought maybe it’d be nice to try something he’d for sure enjoy. (although i have to say, just as a sidebar, that waiting for people to take their first bite of a new recipe is kind of nerve-wracking! or even trying a new recipe myself — i feel almost depressed about it, you know, just on the off chance that it’s terrible & i’ve just wasted a whole lot of my time.)

so this week, i looked up a few different biscuit recipes. most of them required being rolled out, & i’m sure you can guess what it is i don’t have in my kitchen … a rolling pin. so no to that. luckily, i happened to find ONE recipe that, although it featured sour cream (my nemesis), also required only gentle kneading instead of rolling. i made it this morning around 845am (after calling my dad before 8am for the recipe, as my internet was down (oh noes!)), & you know what? it worked out pretty darn well.

INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup margarine
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons milk

METHOD
preheat oven to 450 degrees. in a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, soda, & salt. cut in margarine. make a well in center. add sour cream, 2 tablespoons milk, & raisins, stirring till just combined (add a bit more milk, if needed). on floured surface, gently knead 8-10 stokes. pat dough to 1/2″ thickness. cut with biscuit cutter, dipping in flour between cuts. place on baking sheet. bake at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes. cool slightly on wire racks.
stir together confectioners’ sugar & 2 teaspoons milk. drizzle over biscuits. sprinkle with additional cinnamon & sugar, if desired.

DEVIATIONS & OBSERVATIONS
i didn’t deviate AT ALL. well, ok — i did end up adding an additional 2T milk to the dough b/c it really wasn’t moist enough, but part of that i attribute to not having a pastry blender so i had kind of a hard time cutting in the butter.

softened butter

dough

also, i probably should’ve put down wax paper or parchment paper on the table before daniel floured it — &, as he pointed out, i really should’ve been smart enough to remember to flour my hands! — but that’s just something to note for next time. it was a little bit messy, but nothing that wouldn’t wipe up with a damp washrag.

patting the dough

just out of the oven

the icing especially was super-easy to make, but i probably should double the recipe for it next time as it just wasn’t quite enough. (caroline agreed).

ORGANIC powdered sugar

iced biscuits, cooling
note the huge mess under the rack, b/c clearly putting down newspaper or paper towels would be WAY too much effort to go to

i always suspected i was a much better baker than i was a cook, & this is just further proof — apart from the pastry blender issue (i used a fork), i had no problems at all with this recipe. i guess i just feel more comfortable baking than i do cooking.

all in all, the biscuits went over well. daniel enjoyed them, my mom & my sister enjoyed them, & caroline & her mom enjoyed them. (i thought they were ok, but (a) i’m not a big biscuit fan & (b) EW RAISINS YUCKO.) to answer the question that’s on everyone’s minds: yes, i’d make them again despite the clean-up hassle.

biscuit aftermath!

 

 

“Cinnamon Sour Cream Biscuits” from allrecipes.com

an OMGSNAX! special edition

i’ve never made pancakes before. this is b/c i really really hate pancakes. waffles? delicious. pancakes? no. i understand that they are the same recipe, so i assume it’s a texture thing, but honestly? i don’t know.

so by the time daniel got out of the studio & over to my house tonight, it was 930pm & we were about to start another round of a favorite OMGSNAX! household pasttime, namely: “what do you want for dinner?” “i don’t know, what do YOU want?” i made it known that, after last night’s squash soup debacle, i wanted some squash ravioli; daniel said he’d just starve, & then decided that pancakes sounded delicious — & since i actually have both milk & eggs in the fridge right now (a rarity, as i don’t drink milk & barely eat eggs), i quickly agreed & then roped him into going to Whole Foods with me to get our respective dinners. here is our story:

INGREDIENTS
2 cups pancake mix (Whole Foods brand)
2T melted butter or vegetable oil
2 cups milk
2 eggs

METHOD
combine ingredients. heat skillet or griddle. make pancakes. serve.

DEVIATIONS & OBSERVATIONS
so i guess pretty much everyone knows how to make pancakes except me. get off my case. i’ve made latkes before, which, for the uninitiated, are potato pancakes, so it’s not as if i don’t get the general concept. i basically made the batter according to the directions, & then daniel did most of the actual pancake making. nothing too exciting. we took photos. yargh.

mixing mixing mixing;
you can see my dinner in the background by the canola oil

pouring the first pancake

preparing to flip

the “perfect pancake”; i think it looks like jupiter

daniel gestures at the big ass pancake he made

self-portrait of the cooks

daniel in pancake format

 

 

“Pancakes” from the back of the batter mix bag