Sweet Potato Meringue Tartlets

I'm not a particularly picky eater, but there are a few things that I won't eat, and sweet potatoes are one of them. However, my husband loves them, and since we are celebrating his 30th birthday next week, I felt I should make something just for him. Inspired by Tartelette's gorgeous pumpkin tarts, I made a sweet potato version. You can tell that I have a long way to go before I reach her level, but it was fun to try something a little more advanced. For the crust, I modified Grace Parisi's delicious recipe a bit, and for the filling, it's an adaptation of a sweet potato cheese cake recipe, topped with toasted meringue.

Sweet Potato Meringue Tartlets

Makes approximately 12 Tartlets or 2 Whole Pies

Crust Ingredients:

1-1/4 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 Stick of Butter, Chopped into Tablespoon Sized Bits
1 Tablespoon of Sugar
1/4 Teaspoon of Salt
1/4 Teaspoon of Cinnamon
1/8 Teaspoon of Nutmeg
1/4 Cup of Ice Water


Preparation:

In a food processor, combine all of the ingredients with the exception of the ice water. Pulse until the butter is in small crumb pieces. Slowly drizzle the ice water into the mix while pulsing. Once the mixture is moistened, remove from the food processor onto a sheet of plastic wrap and gather into a ball, wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. This dough can be made ahead.

Cooking:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Roll out the dough to about 1/8 inch thickness and place into a ramekin or pie tin (you can also make these in regular sized pie tins.) Trim the excess dough. Fill the crust with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove crust. Drop the oven temperature down to 375 degrees, and remove the pie weights or beans, and bake until golden brown.

Sweet Potato Filling

Ingredients:

2 Cups of Sweet Potatoes, Cooked
1/2 Cup of Heavy Cream
2 Eggs
4 Ounces of Cream Cheese
2 Tablespoons of Sugar 
2 Teaspoons of Vanilla

1/4 Teaspoon of Cinnamon
1/8 Teaspoon of Salt
1/8 Teaspoon of Ground Allspice
1/8 Teaspoon of Ground Nutmeg
1/8 Teaspoon of Cayenne

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In an electric mixer, combine all the ingredients and whip on high speed until they are fully combined and light and fluffy. Pour into the crust. Bake for approximately 40 minutes or until the filling is fully set.


Meringue Topping

Ingredients:

4 Egg Whites
1/4 Teaspoon of Cream of Tartar
3 Tablespoon of Agave Nectar (If you don't have Agave Nectar, you can substitute 5 Tablespoons of confectioner's sugar)

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to broil. In a mixer on high, whip the egg whites and cream of tartar together until it is a soft foam. Begin adding your agave nectar (or sugar) and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. In a piping bag, or a plastic sandwich bag with the tip cut off, pipe small dots of meringue across the pie surface. Place the pies back into the oven for approximately 1 minute or until the tips of the meringue are just toasted.

Summer Can't Be Over!

The end of summer is always very tough for me to acknowledge. I LOVE fall, but with fall comes the threat of winter. So, before the leaves turn and before I turn my garden, I wanted to share an awesome dough recipe for a galette, or rustic tart, in which I used the last of my summer produce. I saw this recipe on Julia Childs but decided to modify it ever so slightly, I used buttermilk instead of water. You could put anything into this tart. I chose a little tomato sauce, ground beef, onions and peppers mixed with ricotta, then topped with fresh tomato slices and a thick slice of fresh mozzarella. Basically, it was an open topped calzone, but with a cornmeal crunchy crust.

Galette Dough

Ingredients:

3 Tablespoons of Sour Cream
1/3 Cup of Buttermilk
1 Cup of All-Purpose Flour
3 Tablespoons of Cornmeal
1 Teaspoon of Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon of Salt
7 Tablespoons of Butter, Cut into Small Pieces

Cooking:

Mix the sour cream and buttermilk together in a bowl and set aside. Put the flour, cornmeal, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and whisk to blend. Add the butter small bits at a time, and crush into the dry mix with a fork, aiming for pieces of butter that range in size from bread crumbs to small peas. Slowly mix in the wet sour cream mixture into the dry, gently bringing it all together. The dough should be just moist enough to come together, if not, add a small amount of water at a time to reach that point, being careful not to over moisten. Gently knead the dough together into a ball, then divide in half and wrap in plastic, place in fridge and chill for at least 2 hours.

After this, you can roll out the dough to 1/4 thickness and add sugar and berries or pears or apples for a dessert galette. Or add any number of savory fillings, like leeks and mushrooms and goat cheese, or zucchini and parmesan. The possibilities are endless with this awesome, versatile recipe.