Sweet Potato Cornbread

This is a great little variation on cornbread.  The sweet potato adds a great depth of flavor as well as a little additional moistness.  I really love the nice orange-y hue it gives the bread, too.  The recipe calls for already cooked and mashed sweet potato so add in some extra time if you're starting with uncooked potatoes.  I usually do one large sweet potato and cook it for about an hour at 400 degrees (wrapped in foil).  Once it cooks, the peel will come off really easily and you can mash up the potato with a fork.

Sweet Potato Cornbread

Number of Servings: 1 loaf
Time to Prepare: 1 hour 30 minutes

• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 3/4 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup mashed sweet potato

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease a 9x5 loaf pan and set aside.

Combine the cornmeal and sugar in a large bowl.  Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs slightly.  Add the sour cream, vanilla, and butter and whisk until the mixture is creamy and thick.  Stir in the mashed sweet potatoes until thoroughly blended.  Add the sweet potato mixture to the dry ingredients and stir just enough to moisten.  Spread the batter in the prepared loaf pan.

Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.  Transfer pan to a rack and cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and allow to cool completely.

Source: slightly adapted from Treehugger
Produce Used: Sweet potato