Give Yams a Chance!

Terrible title, I know. I’ll be the first to admit that the word ‘yam’ is less than inspiring, but yams still need to be given their due respect and admiration. My boyfriend doesn’t really like yams or their sweet potato cousins prepared in savory dishes, but mixed with a bit of sugar and spice, pureed yams are easily transformed to taste just like pumpkin pie filling, and my boyfriend sure loved these pies.

mini pies

I happen to adore sweet potatoes and yams and love to eat them whipped up like mashed potatoes. I also like yams as a pumpkin replacement because they’re easier to prepare and puree if you don’t want to buy canned pumpkin, and no one can really tell the difference anyway.

I did have issues deciding what exactly what I was making from this recipe (hence the options listed in the title below). First I was going to make bars or squares, but I had no foil or parchment on hand to line my pan and I figured I might not get this stuff out of the pan without it. The only pan I’ve got with a removable bottom is my tart pan so that’s what I used. When it came out of the oven it did look nice as a tart but I though that little rounds would make for a better presentation. In my world anything made smaller is always cuter.

Yam n’ Pecan Pies (or Bars/Squares or Pie or Tart)
Partially inspired and adapted from the Maple Pecan Squares recipe from Essentials of Baking

Crust:

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 cup sucanat

1/4 t salt

1 stick Earth Balance vegan margarine, cut into cubes

1. Mix, flour, sucanat and salt.
2. Cut margarine into the flour mixture or pulse all ingredients in a food processor until nice crumbs are formed.
3. Press dough into the bottom of an 8×8′ square pan or a 9×9′ round. (Preferrably a pan with a removable bottom or, if not, lined with foil or parchment.)
4. Bake @ 350* F for 12 to 15 minutes.

Yam Filling:

2 cups yam puree (I peeled and sliced 4 large yams, sprinkled them with almond oil and salt, baked them in my oven @ 350* until fork tender, and put them in the food processor. Boiling them should do just as well.)

4 oz silken tofu (I used the non-refrigerated kind.)

4 T maple syrup

1 t cinnamon

1/2 t nutmeg

1/4 t ground ginger

1. Mix all ingredients until thoroughly combined and smooth. (I used the paddle on my kitchen aid and mixed for probably 4 minutes.)
2. Spread filling over pre-baked crust.

Pecan Topping:

1 1/4 chopped pecans

3 oz Earth Balance vegan margarine

1/2 cup sucanat

3 oz maple syrup

3 T soy milk

1. Combine Earth Balance butter, sucanat, and syrup into a sauce pan over medium heat.
2. Once butter is melted, bring mix to a boil and boil for 1 minute.
3. Remove from heat and stir in soy mik and pecans.
4. Pour over yam mixture and bake @ 350 for 25 to 30 minutes. (I recommend baking this on a cookie sheet as the pecan topping is likely to bouble and may boil over the edges a bit or leak through your removable-bottomed pan.)
5. Be sure to cool it thoroughly and keep it in the fridge until serving.
6. You can slice or cut into bars to serve. To make the mini pies you see here, you’ll need to cut out rounds with a large cookie cutter and you’ll have to find something to do with the scraps. That’s not difficult though. It’s seems that every time I open my refrigerator I find that my refrigerator gnomes have stolen more of the leftovers, and the rest, if you want to be bad for breakfast, is quite nice stirred into your morning oatmeal.

tastes just like pumpkin