I purposely made more food than I thought we needed to feed the six of us last Thanksgiving, since I enjoy the leftovers and finding ways to use them. Matt and I had a couple nights of just reheating the leftovers pretty much as they were originally served, but the real fun part is figuring out ways to make the leftovers into something new. I especially had a lot of leftover sweet potatoes, and decided to try adding them to pancakes. I adapted the buttermilk pancakes I usually make from The Joy of Cooking, adding my sweet potato casserole (which was topped with coconut and hazelnuts) and some spices. Since these are a good bit sweeter than normal pancakes, they were especially great topped with tart leftover cranberry sauce!

Pancakes with Sweet Potatoes

adapted from The Joy of Cooking

serves 4 (2-3 pancakes each)

1 1/4 c cake flour
1/2 t salt
3/4 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/8 t cloves
1/4 t nutmeg
1/2 t cinnamon

1 c buttermilk
1 egg, beaten
2 T butter, melted
1/2 c leftover mashed sweet potatoes (pumpkin puree would be good, too)

2-3 T butter, for cooking

Sift together dry ingredients (flour through cinnamon).

Combine the buttermilk, egg, melted butter, and sweet potatoes. Stir into the dry ingredients until just mixed (do not overmix).

Melt butter over medium to medium high heat (hot enough that water dropped on it sizzles a bit, but doesn’t go crazy). Drop pancake batter by 1/4 to 1/3 cups. Cook until lightly browned on the bottom and the edges are dry, a few minutes, and then flip and cook until the other side is browned. (I think because the batter is a bit thicker from the potatoes, you don’t really get bubbles rising to the top like you do in normal pancakes, but they were done when I cooked them as described.)

Serve with cranberry sauce, maple syrup, or honey.

Honestly, I didn’t measure anything very carefully, but just tasted it and added things until I liked the flavor. But, it turned out so well, I at least wanted to have a record for next year of what I put in. I think this kind of thing is best made tasting as you go anyway, since what it needs will depend on the flavor and sweetness of your cranberries.

Cranberry Sauce

This is a rough outline of a recipe. These are the ingredients I use, but the amounts will need to be tweaked, depending on your taste and the tartness of the cranberries. I think I ended up with more spices than this, but this is a place to start – it’s easier to add more than to take some away!

Makes about a pint

3/4 of a bag of cranberries (3-4 cups)
1/4 c of brown sugar, plus more to taste
zest of one orange
1 T grated ginger
1/4 t cloves
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t allspice
1/4 t fresh grated nutmeg

Combine cranberries, brown sugar, and a couple tablespoons of water. Cook over medium heat. Once it starts bubbling and the cranberries break down, turn down to a simmer and add the orange zest and spices. Simmer until the cranberries are cooked down and falling apart, tasting to adjust the sugar and spices.

As I was looking for a new way to make sweet potatoes this year, I found this recipe from 101 Cookbooks, and I’m so glad I decided to try it. The coconut milk and ginger are a nice departure from the usual brown sugar and pecans or marshmallows, and they are just sweet enough but not overly so. I adapted the recipe slightly from the original, using hazelnuts instead of macadamias, and adding a bit of brown sugar. The leftovers were great in pancakes, which I’ll share sometime soon.

Sweet Potatoes with Coconut and Hazelnuts

adapted from 101 Cookbooks

As pictured above, enough to feed a crowd (at least 10), so you might want to halve it

4-5 medium to large sweet potatoes (about 5 lb)
2/3 c coconut milk
2 T grated fresh ginger
2 T maple syrup
1/2 t salt
2-3 T butter
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c shredded coconut
1/2 c chopped hazelnuts

Preheat oven to 350 F. Poke sweet potatoes with a fork and wrap in foil, or place on a cookie sheet (otherwise they may drip sugar and make a mess in your oven – yes I learned this the hard way). Bake for about an hour, until the “meat” of the potato is completely tender to a fork.

Let the potatoes cool a bit, and peel. Mash with coconut milk, ginger, maple syrup, and salt. Adjust the amount of coconut milk until desired texture is reached. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Place in a large casserole dish. (Can be done up to a few days ahead up to this point.)

Dot with butter, and sprinkle with brown sugar. Then top with coconut and hazelnuts. Bake at 350 F until potatoes are hot and top is browned, about 30 minutes.