Sweet Potato Apple Butter Muffins






This week I made it my goal to use up the food that's been in the fridge/freezer/pantry and start fresh. Ingenuity and creativity in the kitchen are spectacular in times like these. Last night I finished up the last of the frozen fish, head of cabbage, radishes and cornmeal with a fun take on Baja Fish Tacos. Dessert was a tricky one to pull off. Some sweet potatoes, a stick of butter and....well I was stuck. I went searching online and found a recipe that set me on the right course. I dug out the apple butter I had canned from last season, scavenged for some walnuts tucked away on the shelf and came up with this. It worked. Super moist, incredibly easy, ridiculously delicious and even slightly healthy muffins.
I made both small and large muffins (different cooking times.) The large ones received a dollop of cream cheese in the center. The small muffins were sans cream cheese. Whichever way suits you~
This recipe makes a large batch. Perfect for freezing and popping in a school lunch or as a snack on a road trip.
 
Sweet Potato Muffins
(adapted from One Hungry Mama)
Makes 6 large muffins + 18 mini muffins
1/2 stick unsalted butter at room temperature + more for greasing pan
2 c light brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 c apple butter (I used homemade sugar free. Recipe here)
1 ½ c sweet potato puree (1 large sweet potato, cooked)
3 c flour
¼ c ground walnuts
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. In the meantime, cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Brown sugar is grainier than sugar and won’t cream the same way—it’ll work fine so long as they are well mixed.
2. Add eggs, vanilla, apple butter and sweet potato to butter-sugar combo and mix well on low speed.
3. Combine all dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Slowly add to the wet ingredients while continuing to mix on low speed.
4. Fill each muffin pan fairly full. If using cream cheese, fill up each muffin pan 1/2 full and dollop 2 Tbsp. cream cheese into the middle and spoon more muffin mixture to cover.
5. Bake for 18-20 minutes for mini muffins and 20-25 for large. Muffins are done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (except for some cream cheese filling)! Allow muffins to cool in tray for about 5 minutes. Finish cooling on a baking rack.