Fun Shaped Purple Yam Sweet Potater Tots

I used this recipe as a base, but changed a few things to fake it make it my own.

Sweet Potater Tots

Ingredients:
2 large sweet potatoes or yams (I used purple yams, found at an Asian grocery)
2 Tbsp olive oil (or other vegetable oil of your choice)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 c breadcrumbs or flour (I almost used whole wheat pastry flour, but decided on whole wheat breadcrumbs instead)
1 tsp salt
1 egg (or 1 Tbsp ground flaxseed mixed with 1/3 c warm water for a vegan egg substitute)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F
Step 1: Grate the sweet potatoes. They shrink when cooked, so a regular grate is fine. You may also want to dice them up a little before Step 2 or Step 3, but I didn't bother.
Peeling first is not required, but the skins on mine looked a little funky, and I wasn't able to find these in organic, so I peeled 'em.

Step 2: Toss the sweet potato shreds with the oil until evenly coated. Spread the oiled sweet potato evenly onto a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, until very tender (but not mushy.)

Step 3: In a large bowl, mix together the sweet potato, cinnamon, breadcrumbs, salt and egg (or egg substitute) until evenly coated.

Step 4: Using greased mini muffin pans, stuff mixture into molds and pack tightly with your fingers. Makes 24 mini shaped ones, might make slightly fewer round ones.

Step 5: Bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes.

To reheat, set oven to 350 F and put them in on a baking sheet (while oven is heating.) Remove a few minutes after oven reaches 350.

The Verdict

They're a little dense (not as moist as potatoes,) and were actually a little bland. I would definitely add more salt, personally. But then, I didn't feel the cinnamon went well with ketchup, so I ate mine plain. So depending on your dip, the salt level should be fine as-is. They held their shape great, though!

The original recipe I got the base idea from (I changed some ingredients and altered the directions) adds cayenne pepper to the tots, and has a recipe for a spicy dip, which many of you might enjoy. Z and I are not spice girls, so it wasn't really an option for me. I might try with more cinnamon, or maybe some nutmeg and ginger too, to make it taste more like a dessert. And maybe some brown sugar... I was also expecting a more buttery taste, so I might try melted butter instead of olive oil. Mmmmm...

I packed them cold into two lunches for Z, and she ate one and a half (and all the ketchup) the first time, but touched nothing in her lunch the second time. I reheated them for dinner one night, and she gobbled hers all down with ketchup and Ranch. So either she just wasn't as hungry those days, I didn't have the right variety and amount of dip, or else she just wasn't a fan of them chilled in her lunch previously and this time was distracted by her TV shows and just shoved them into her gob mindlessly. Fine with me!

I even let Baby E try one. She was thrilled to get "big girl food." She seemed to really like the flavor, when I initially held it to her mouth and she sucked on it. She liked it so much she snatched it away from me to do it herself! So other than getting a few shreds off with her first "bite," she mostly mashed it up in her fist and dribbled it around her chair.