Duchesse Sweet Potato Apples

Duchesse Sweet Potato Apples

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 purĂ©ed 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!

 

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31 thoughts on “Duchesse Sweet Potato Apples

  1. 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!

  2. 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.

  3. 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?

    1. 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.

    1. 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.

    1. 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.

    1. 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.

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