Sweet Potato muffin with Dates and Cranberries サツマイモマフィン

This is another of my wife’s baking projects. The original recipe appeared in Washington Post as “Sweet potato bread with dates and cranberries” but she converted it to muffins. One of the reasons she made this is that we got some Japanese sweet potatoes a week ago and she wanted to use them before they went bad. This recipe was a bit unusual in that the dates were pulverized with oil, eggs, and milk and become a part of the wet ingredients.  The original recipe also calls for fresh cranberries but we didn’t have any so we used dried cranberries (craisins). Since craisins have added sugar and dates are quite sweet, we were afraid the muffin would be too sweet but it was just pleasantly sweet. The texture appeared dense but was very tender. Overall, this is a good unique muffin/bread. We enjoyed it for our breakfast. I ask my wife to continue.

Ingredients
1/2 cup (120 milliliters) neutral oil, (We used Crisco)
1 1/2 cups (190 grams) pitted dates
1 cup mashed, roasted sweet potatoes (We used Japanese sweet potatoes)
1/3 cup (80 milliliters) milk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup (65 grams) whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup (65 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (60 grams) almond flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
1 cup (95 grams) fresh whole cranberries (We used craisins)
1/2 cup (60 grams) chopped raw pecans

Directions:
Prepare 2 sweet potatoes by piercing the skin, then putting them into a silicone cooking container with a little water. Cover and cook in the microwave until tender (about 4-5 minutes). Remove the skin. Mash them and then run them through a ricer to get rid of any remaining lumps. 

Place the dates in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add the sweet potato puree, oil and milk and pulse until smooth. (Small bits of the dates will remain.) Add the eggs and vanilla, and pulse to combine. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl.

In another large bowl, whisk together the whole-wheat, AP, and almond flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt until combined.

Add the flour mixture to the sweet potato mixture, and stir just until evenly incorporated. Stir in the cranberries and pecans; the batter will be very thick.

Transfer the batter to the prepared muffin tins. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, until a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for about 5 minutes then remove from the pan.