Here comes a sweet potato treat perfect for your new year’s get together! Or for any other get together for that matter. These canapés bring the roasted sweet jammyness of the sweet potatoes, the luscious creaminess of whipped cream cheese and the spicy, nutty, maple syrup-y goodness in the seed crisp together to delight your guests.

They look pretty dramatic too I think with the orange against the white cream cheese and marbled but predominantly black seed crisp. Can’t go wrong with good looking food, we do eat with our eyes after all! If you can’t find black sesame seeds though they will look equally lovely using white and you could use only pumpkin or sunflower seeds if you don’t have all three seeds on hand.

These canapés take very little work for maximum effect so if you haven’t yet got your new year’s menu down I can wholeheartedly recommend this one!

 

Malin x

Roasted Sweet Potato Canapés

Makes roughly 16 pieces.

INGREDIENTS:

Roasted sweet potatoes:

500 g / 2 medium sweet potatoes

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp mixed herbs

Sale and black pepper, to taste

Spicy maple seeds:

2 tbsp pumpkin seeds

2 tbsp sunflower seeds

2 tbsp black sesame seeds

1 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp aleppo chili flakes

Pinch of salt

Toppings:

100 g vegan cream cheese

Fresh thyme leaves

METHOD:

Preheat the oven 200 degrees C, fan assisted.

Clean the skin of the sweet potatoes thoroughly and pat dry with a clean tea towel. Cut the ends off the sweet potato and keep for another recipe. Then slice the sweet potatoes into 1 cm thick rounds. My sweet potatoes made about 8 rounds per potato but this will depend on the length of your potato of course.

Transfer the sweet potato discs into a mixing bowl and  drizzle with the olive oil. Season with dried herbs and salt and toss to coat.

Spread the coated potato slices in single layer onto a lined oven tray. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes or until tender. Remove from the oven and let cool before assembling.

While the oven is hot and the sweet potato is roasting combine the seeds in a smaller mixing bowl. Drizzle with the maple syrup and season with salt and chili flakes. Mix to coat the seeds and then transfer them to a lined small oven safe dish. Spread them out so that they make more or less a single layer but still touching each other.

Toast the seeds in the oven with the sweet potatoes for 5-7 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove from the oven, give them a mix around with a spoon and let cool completely before assembling. This will allow the seeds to dry and create a large cluster which you can break apart into smaller clusters or shards.

Use an electric hand whisk to whip the vegan cream cheese in a bowl for 2-3 minutes. This will loosen it up a bit and make it more light and fluffy.

Once the sweet potato and seeds have cooled transfer the sweet potato to a serving dish. Spread a dollop, roughly a couple of teaspoons but depending on the size of the sweet potato disc, of cream cheese onto each sweet potato slice. Break the seeds apart into clusters or shards and place onto the cream cheese. Finish with a few fresh thyme leaves on each canapé.

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