I was less than a week into culinary school (at the Center for Kosher Culinary Arts), when we dedicated an entire day to potatoes. An entire day. Let’s just say that if I was stranded on a dessert island, potatoes is all I would need.
One of the things we learned to make is duchesse potatoes. In culinary arts, duchesse refers to a classic French recipe for puréed potatoes that includes butter, egg yolks, nutmeg, salt and pepper. We piped the filling into scooped-out potato halves, formed some of it into crispy fried potato croquettes and experimented with the extra filling to make fried pear shapes. When I saw my culinary instructor stick a bay leaf and clove into the crispy breaded mound of potatoes, a light switch went off in my head and I knew I’d be making THESE for Rosh Hashanah.
And by these I mean the adorable duchesse sweet potato “apples” that you see here. Duchesse sweet potatoes are not as popular as their russet cousins, but they are just as delicious. One of the tricks I learned is to add instant mashed potato flakes to the filling to help it firm up and hold it’s shape. To stay true to the classic duchess recipe, I added a pinch of nutmeg, and subbed coconut oil for the butter, complementing the sweet potato flavor (and keeping it pareve). The addition of honey and sliced apple makes these the perfect dish to serve at your Rosh Hashanah meal.
Now since The Kosher Connection (a group of kosher food bloggers that I belong to) is so generous, they decided to do a link-up of APPLE recipes in honor of Rosh Hashanah. Below, you’ll find links to countless sweet apple recipes that are perfect to start off the New Year.
You can also check out these other BIB recipes that are perfect for Rosh Hashanah:
Cinnamon Infused Honey
Apple & Honey Tart
Pomegranate Coleslaw
Hassleback Sweet Potatoes with Apples
Honey Challah with Sweet Toppings
Rosh Hashanah Roast
Honey Cake with Caramelized Apples
Sending you all best wishes for a happy and healthy sweet New Year!
Duchesse Sweet Potatoes with Apples
3 small apples, cored and sliced into 1/2″ thick rounds
3 tbsp coconut oil, divided
1 tsp cinnamon
4 medium sweet potatoes
2 egg yolks
2 tbsp honey
1/4 tsp nutmeg
salt, to taste
1/4 c instant mashed potato flakes
1 egg mixed with 1 tbsp water, for eggwash
Method:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake sweet potatoes until soft and syrupy, about 1 hour. Set aside to cool.
Remove the flesh of the sweet potatoes and add to a bowl. Mix in egg yolks, 2 tbsp of coconut oil, honey, nutmeg, salt and instant mashed potato flakes. Add the mixture to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip.
Place the apple rounds on a parchment-lined baking sheet (you should have 9 rounds of equal size) and brush both sides lightly with remaining tbsp of coconut oil. Sprinkle the apples lightly with cinnamon.
Pipe the sweet potato filling onto the apples to form a round shape and brush lightly with eggwash. Bake at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes, until sweet potatoes are set and just starting to brown around the edges.
Place a clove and bay leaf in the center of each sweet potato mound to resemble an apple.
YIELDS: 9 duchesse sweet potato & apple mounds.
Oh yes, if I were stranded on a desert island I would also pick potato. Everything else is in second place. As for these gorgeous whipped sweet potatoes: wow! My recipes is almost exactly the same so I know these are yummy — I have never made them so beautiful though. Bravo!
I hope I can wait until Rosh HaShana to make these. What a great idea.
YUM these look great!
Even better than what I thought these were going to be (based on your tease from the other day). Yum!
AMAZING creativity. I like. I will try thise for Rosh Hashana. Shana Tova to you too. Enjoy the Hamptons!
xo
Sharon
what a great side dish for rosh hashana. i love how you garnished it with the bay leaf.
Perfect appetizer! These look and sound great for Rosh Hashana!
every time I think I can’t be surprised anymore… looks amazing and healthy.
Looks fantastic!
Such a pretty recipe! I feel like this will be a major show-stopper on RH!
So pretty and creative! Love the presentation. I also am very fond of coconut oil with sweet potato–I find that it makes the sweet potato taste even sweeter somehow.
I’d be torn between potatoes and rice, but this recipe is so elegant – perfect for entertaining.
I love the insight into culinary school and the step-by-step. I dream of one day attending culinary school so your tutorial is so appreciated!
Sounds delish and looks so pretty! Do you think i can make ahead and freeze them?? I’m a big believer that most things freeze beautifully if frozen right (my potato kugel defrosts perfectly and no one knows the better!), but these have the fruit AND potato, so figure i’ll ask the expert?
I am far from the expert when it comes to freezing food. However, I do think that the duchesse sweet potatoes would freeze really well. I’m more worried about the apple underneath.
First of all the photos are gorgeous! Second, I think I will have to try these for RH, will definitely wow my guests!
these are so super cute! I love sweet potatoes, this is definitely going to be made.
Will definitely give this a try but will omit the clove and bay leave due to potential peril of both!
Is there a substitute for instant mashed potatoes? Flour?
Hi Esti, you can use flour, but start with less. You just want the mixture to hold together, but you don’t want it gluey.
which apples are best to use?
and can I make the sweet potato filling in advance?
I would use pink lady, or my favorite, honeycrisp. You don’t want anything too mushy like cortland because they won’t hold their shape after baking. How much in advance do you want to make the filling? With the raw eggs mixed in, I don’t think it will last more than 2 days or so. Baked sweet potatoes on their own can definitely last a couple of days though.
I’d totally go for this recipe, but I am allergic to sweet potato.
I think I can try with regular potato or pumpkin.
You can definitely do it with pumpkin. You may need to put more or less mashed potato flakes to hold it together, depending on how watery your pumpkin is.
Will regular oil be okay? Don’t have cocunut oil. Also don’t have instant mashed potato what can I use instead?
Yes, you can use regular oil. You can leave out the mashed potato flakes, they help stiffen the mixture so it pipes nicely, which can be done with flour, but I’m afraid it would make the puree gummy.