Grain-Free Sweet Potato Crisp

I'm so glad to be back in Indiana with my family. I haven't been home in a long time, and I really deserved a break. I made it through my tough semester, doing really well, if I might add. I got my dissertation proposal and plan of study approved by my committee and finished off 2 difficult classes: biochem and plant physiology. I feel like I deserve a break after all that work and I also need to start getting back to eating a cleaner diet because of course around finals time things get a little off-routine. I've been reading Loren Cordain's Paleo Diet Cookbook and have prepared a few wonderful dishes from it that I hope to share, including all my alterations.

Here is a holiday dish that is a huge favorite in my family. I managed to make it grain-free! I prepared it for Thanksgiving (way back then!) but it's great for Christmas dinner too. I used my old sweet potato crisp recipe, but altered the filling to use maple syrup instead of granulated sugar. I double the topping recipe from my Paleo Peach Crisp to make a thick, crunchy top. I think I might like this new version even more, because my sweet tooth has been dwindling these past few months. What's even better is the sugar per serving in this new recipe is about half of what it was in the old recipe!

Grain-Free Sweet Potato Crisp
Printable Recipe

For the sweet potato mash:
5 medium sweet potatoes 
1/4 c maple syrup
4 tsp unsalted butter, softened
pinch of salt
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon

For the crumble:
3 tbsp room temperature unsalted butter
1/2 cup  golden raisins
1/2 c chopped pecans
1/2 chopped almonds
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp ground cinnamon

more unsalted butter to butter the dish with

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Scrub the potatoes and wrap them in foil. Place in the oven and roast for about 1 hour or until soft.
2. Remove the potatoes and allow them to cool so that you can handle them (alternatively, cool them to room temperature and leave in the fridge till the next day). Reduce (or preheat) the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Remove the flesh from the potatoes; discard the skin. Mash the potatoes with a fork or potato masher, then add the rest of the "mash" ingredients. For a smoother consistency, whip with a hand mixer. If using warm potatoes, add the egg slowly while blending it into the potato mash to prevent curdling.
3. Butter a 1.5 qt baking dish. Pour in the potato mash.
4. In a mini food processor, pulse the butter with the raisins. Then, add the nuts and pulse until roughly chopped. Finally, pulse in the honey and cinnamon. If you don't have a food processor, chopped the raisins and nuts by hand, then cut the honey, butter, and cinnamon in with a fork. Pour the crumb mixture all over the potato mash to the edge of the dish.
5. Bake for 35 minutes or until it is browned on top. Serve warm or at room temperature.

• Servings per recipe: 10
• Per serving:
• Calories:245
• Fat: 9.6 g
• Saturated fat: 3.7 g
• Sodium: 68 mg
• Carbohydrates: 38.9 g
• Fiber: 4.8 g
• Sugar: 10.9 g
• Protein 2.8 g