1cuproasted, pureed sweet potato,from 1 large or 2 small sweet potatoes
½cupgranulated sugar
½cupdark brown sugar,lightly packed
½cupvegetable oil
½cupwhole milk
2large eggs
1tspvanilla extract
1tspmaple extract
2cupsall-purpose flour,spooned and leveled
1tspbaking soda
¼tspcoarse Kosher salt(if using table salt, use half the amount)
½tspground cinnamon
¼tspground ginger
¼tspground cloves
¼tspground nutmeg
⅛tspground cardamom
Topping
1cupall-purpose flour,spooned and leveled
⅓cupdark brown sugar,lightly packed
¼tspcoarse Kosher salt(if using table salt, use half the amount)
¼cupfinely chopped pecans,optional
4tbspunsalted butter,melted
Icing
1cuppowdered sugar,sifted
½tspmaple extract
¼tspcoarse Kosher salt
2tbspwhole milk or half and half
Instructions
Roasted Sweet Potato
Preheat the oven to 425 F. Scrub the sweet potato, but don't remove the peel. Wrap it in foil, place it on a baking sheet, and roast for about 1 1/2 hours, until very soft.
Open the foil, let the potato cool, and remove the peel. Puree the potato in a food processor until smooth. Measure out 1 cup of pureed sweet potato, and let cool to room temperature.
You can roast and puree the sweet potato up to 3 days in advance, keeping it in the refrigerator until needed. You can also freeze the puree for 3-6 months.
Muffins
Preheat the oven to 350 F, and line a standard muffin pan with 12 paper liners. Lightly spray the liners and the top of the pan with nonstick baking spray.
In a bowl, whisk together the pureed sweet potato, granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil, milk, eggs, vanilla and maple extracts.
Separately, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and spices.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and use a fork to whisk everything together, just until moistened.
Spoon the batter into the cups; they'll be quite full, nearly to the top.
Topping
In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar salt and pecans. Drizzle with the melted butter, and toss everything together with a spoon until evenly moistened.
Spoon the crumbs on top of the batter, using up all the crumbs. Lightly press the crumbs into the batter.
Bake
Bake the muffins on the center oven rack for about 22-25 minutes, until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean.
Cool in the pan for several minutes, then gently lift them out to cool on a cooling rack while you make the icing.
Icing
In a bowl, whisk together all ingredients until thick and smooth.
Drizzle the icing over the warm muffins. It will set in about 15-20 minutes.