Spiced Sweet Potato Muffins with Walnut Streusel

So, I'm going to start posting about things I make that are nummy! I don't promise good pictures, but I think you'll be inspired to make some of this great stuff too :-)

(Also, this is a good way for me to keep track of what I've made and the recipe... More than half the time I make something new, I like it and then forget about it and loose the recipe. Bummer!)

I made the Spiced Sweet Potato Muffins with Walnut Streusel on Wednesday morning. Very simple to make and delicious!



Sweet Potato Muffins
1 sweet potato or yam
1/2 cup milk
2 large eggs, beaten
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon salt

Walnut Streusel
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter 12 muffin cups or line with paper liners.

Peel and cube the potato. Place into a saucepan, add water to cover and cook over medium heat until just tender, about 20 minutes. Drain, cool and mash in a mixing bowl. You should have about 1 cup mashed potato.

Stir together potato and mild. Beat in the eggs and melted butter. In another bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, cardamom and salt. Stir the dry ingredients into the potato mixture just until blended.

Make the streusel in a small bowl. Stir the walnuts, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon together. Add butter; mix until crumbly. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, filling them two-thirds full. Sprinkel with the streusel mixture and gently pat it.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove from the cups and cool on a wire rack.

*Makes 12 muffins.

Cardamom is an interesting spice and I'm looking forward to making more recipes with it. It's expensive, so I suggest borrowing some to try first and finding a few recipes to make with it!

Recipe found in Beatrice Ojakangas' Great Holiday Baking Book, pg. 221.