Japan · 60 min · Vegetarian · Dessert · For beginners
Suiito Poteto
In German: Süßkartoffel-Kekse · In English: Sweet potato soft cookies
For 4 servings · US units
Japanese baked cakes of mashed sweet potato with butter, glossy and golden
Suiito Poteto is a small baked sweet from Japan, where it's thought of as an autumn treat: soft-cooked sweet potato mashed with butter and sugar into a dense, creamy paste, shaped and baked. Inside it stays almost like pudding, while the egg wash gives the top a golden shine. It's an afternoon sort of sweet, easy to make and easy to prepare ahead.
Ingredients
- 14⅛ ozSweet potatocook until soft, peel and mash
- 1⅔ ozbutterat room temperature, mixed into the warm mash
- 1 ozsugarto sweeten the mash
- 1Eggbeaten or yolk only, for glazing and binding
- 1 tbspCreammakes the mash smooth (optional)
- 2 tbspSoy milkunsweetened, instead of cream (optional)
- 1 tbsphoneyalternative sweetener for the cookie version (optional)
- 3½ ozfor the cookie version only, binds the dough (optional)A ready-made dry mix of flour, raising agent and sugar for pancakes; the Japanese kind (hotcake mix) is sweeter and lightly vanilla-flavoured.Substitute: It is easy to mix yourself: for 100 g of plain flour, use about 1 tsp baking powder, 1 to 2 tbsp sugar, a pinch of salt and some vanilla sugar if you like. The result is a little less sweet and fluffy than the Japanese mix, which you can adjust with the sugar.Read more
- sprinkled on top before baking (optional)Unhulled black sesame seeds, stronger and slightly more bitter than white sesame.Substitute: White sesame comes close in flavour but is milder and loses the dark colour; for pastes or desserts that depend on the black colour, there is no equivalent substitute.Read more
- saltin the mash and coarse for sprinkling (optional)
- Peppercoarsely ground, for sprinkling (optional)
Method
- Cook the sweet potatoCook the sweet potato until soft: either about 5 minutes in the microwave at 600 watts, or cut into slices and simmer in water for around 10 minutes, until a knife slips in easily.
- Peel and scoop outPeel the sweet potato while it's still hot, or scoop the flesh out of the skin with a spoon. If you want to use the skin halves as edible cases, hollow them out carefully and set them aside.
- Mash the fleshMash the flesh smooth with a fork or a masher while it's warm — once it cools it becomes much harder to work with.
- Enrich the mashStir the softened, room-temperature butter and the sugar into the warm mash until the butter has blended in completely. Mix in the cream or soy milk until the paste is smooth, and season with a pinch of salt if you like.
- Prepare oven and sheetHeat the oven to 180–390 °F and line a baking sheet with parchment.
- Divide and shapeDivide the mixture and shape it: fill the hollowed-out skin halves, or model small sweet-potato shapes by hand. Set the pieces on the sheet.
- Glaze and garnishBrush the tops with beaten egg, or with yolk only, and scatter over black sesame seeds if you like.
- Bake and serveBake for 15 to 30 minutes, until the surface is golden and glossy. Let the pieces settle on the sheet for a moment, then serve warm or at room temperature.
Tips and variations
The classic version of Suiito Poteto uses the hollowed-out sweet potato halves as edible cases, filled and baked along with the mixture. For soft cookies, knead the mash with pancake mix and honey into a dough, roll it into a log, chill it for 30 minutes, cut 5 to 6 mm slices, sprinkle them with black sesame and bake for 15 minutes. For a sweet-and-salty version, stir soy milk and salt into the mash and cook it down over low heat until thick, then shape small sweet-potato forms and sprinkle them with coarse salt and pepper before baking. Salted butter in place of unsalted gives the mixture more depth. The baked pieces taste best warm, with tea.
Allergens
Contains: Eggs, Milk (including lactose)
May contain if you use the optional ingredients: Sesame, Soybeans
Not every ingredient in this recipe has been checked, so nothing is promised as free from.
These notes follow from this recipe's ingredient list. Ready-made products and brands may contain further allergens — please check the packaging yourself.
Something not right?
This recipe was put together from independent sources and checked before publishing. Even so, a mistake can slip through — an amount that does not add up, a step that does not work as written. If you spot something, write to us: we will look into it and put it right.
