Sweet Potato Cream Cheese Frosting

This frosting is so yummy on vanilla cupcakes, spice cupcakes, bran muffins, banana bread, carrot cake, or if you are like me, eaten right off a spoon...

1/4 cup butter, softened to room temp
8 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temp
1 small sweet potato, baked, peeled and mashed (for about 1 cup mashed)
1 teaspooon vanilla extract
a pinch of kosher salt
6 to 7 cups powdered sugar

Cream butter and cream cheese with electric mixer until creamy and smooth. Add sweet potato, vanilla and salt and continue mixing until creamy again. Gradually add the powdered sugar one cup at a time until the desired consistency is reached. Use less powdered sugar if you want a glaze and more if you want a thick frosting. Refrigerate until ready to use. Bring to room temp prior to spreading.

Feeling a little crazy?...sweet potato frosted cupcakes topped with crisp bacon is a fun sweet-and-salty combination!



Or try some toasted coconut sprinkled on top!

Wine Dinner at Frascatti

Another great dinner by Enrico.

I forgot to take pics as the courses came.

So all I have is the first. I will see if I can get

some pics from someone else and post them.

The dessert was my favorite course.

Is that a surprise?

Random Baking

JB's Birthday Cupcakes

His request to have Snickerdoodle Cupcakes with Seven Minute Frosting.  I personally can't stand the marshmallow texture and insane sugaryness (is that a word?) of the frosting...but it looks cool.

Fresh Fig Tart

This was made back in August when fresh figs were in season. You can do the same thing with those fantastic giant (seedless) black grapes.

Tart crust, cream cheese, sugar & egg filling, fresh figs (or grapes). After baking brush honey or apricot preserves on figs.

Zucchini Spaghetti

I turned zucchini into spaghetti strands with some little gadget I found in the back of my kitchen gadget drawer.  I thought it was a peeler until I pulled it across the zucchini skin...

Black Grape Pie

Took it to the Wineage last night. Everyone loved it. No one could believe you can make a pie with grapes. The grapes stayed crisp and it was not overly sweet. We all thought a dollop of Creme Fraiche would have made it perfect.

Use whatever your favorite crust recipe is. For a deep dish pie pan use about 6-7 cups seedless black grapes, cut in half or quarters. Mix grapes with 3/4 cup sugar, 5 tablespoons flour. Fill pie shell with grape mixture. Dot wit 2 tablespoons butter. Put on top crust - however you like. Brush crust with cream and sprinkle with sugar.  Bake at 400 for about 1 hour, till grapes are bubbly. Cool before serving.