I have been busy in the kitchen, y’all. With the thermometer inching its way down with what seems like every day, I am happy to spend time in the kitchen where it’s warm.

One thing I did achieve with my culinary delights is finding a crab cake recipe that Matt didn’t immediately spit out. Perhaps in central Canada, seafood is strange and foreign because that is the only reason I can figure for it (I grew up along the Florida Panhandle where we know seafood).

And as though we didn’t have enough sweets in the house or anything else to bring, I made sweet potato-chocolate bars for a lovely dinner party last night. It occurred to me on the drive over that I could’ve probably used canned pumpkin and saved myself a time-consuming step, but then I seem to always do things the hard way.

I think what I liked best about these was how the sweetness of the chocolate was tempered by the sweet potato. After all, when you use semisweet chocolate, you pretty much taste nothing but sugar. Another bonus: graham cracker crust!

Oooh, before I forget: the recipe calls for a baking time of 25 minutes; I found that I had to bake mine an additional 20 minutes to get center nice and set, your mileage may vary.

As I’ve chronicled previously, I like to have one weekend morning where I make something slightly fancy and/or involved for breakfast. I realize that this takes away from Matt’s yearning to cook more on weekend (Kitchen Dominatrix is me) so I try not to step on too many toes. Once again, I cull from Smitten Kitchen’s compendium of breakfast recipes. This time, in the form of a crisp. As Deb says in her entry, she reduced the amount of sugar so you can eat this crisp with plain yogurt. Not me, I just ate the crisp itself.

I want to say that the crisp turned out perfect and that all was well in Crispland. Well, that would be a flat-out lie. I do battle with my oven constantly. And I cannot get that oven to obey despite the fact it has a damned thermometer in it. I honestly think it runs too hot no matter what temperature I set it on for baking. Also, it tilts slightly so anything baking in the oven will have its far edge burned. Mostly what I do is set the timer for half the baking time so I check on said item in oven. If it looks like it’s getting too brown, I cover it with parchment. I should have done so with the crisp but more’s the folly with me.

Listen: it didn’t ruin it. I was lax and should have checked more. But it did ruin my plans of giving leftover crisp to our neighbors.

Potato Chip Crab Cakes

1 egg

2 to 3 tbl. reduced-fat mayonnaise

1 tbl. Dijon mustard

1 lb. fresh jumbo lump crab meat, drained

3/4 cup crushed baked potato chips, about 3 oz.

In a bowl, beat egg. Add 2 tablespoons mayonnaise and mustard and stir to combine. Add crab meat and chips and gently stir of combine.  If mixture isn’t holding together, add additional mayonnaise. Do not overwork the crab, as it breaks into pieces easily. Form into 6 patties and refrigerate for 15 to 20 minutes. The patties will become firmer upon refrigeration.

In a large, lightly oiled skillet, preferably nonstick, over medium-high heat, add the crab cakes and cook undisturbed until the bottoms are golden brown. Flip once and cook until bottoms turn golden brown and cakes are cooked through.

Sweet Potato Chocolate Bars

from “Every Day’s A Party” by Emeril Lagasse (Morrow, 1999)

1 1/2 lbs. medium-size sweet potatoes

1 tbl. vegetable oil

3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg

pinch of salt

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

3 large eggs

3 cups milk

2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

2 cups pecan pieces

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted

8 oz. semisweet chocolate morsels

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Rub the sweet potatoes with the vegetable oil and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake until fork-tender, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Remove from the oven and let cool, then peel and mash in a large bowl.

Add to the mashed potatoes the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, vanilla, eggs, and 2 1/2 cups of the milk and mix well. Set aside.

Lower the oven temperature to 350.

Combine the graham cracker crumbs and pecan pieces in a food processor and process for about 1 minute, to make a fine meal. With the motor running, gradually pour the melted butter through the feed tube and process for about 1 minute. Transfer the crumb mixture to a 13×18-inch baking pan and, using your fingers, firmly press the crumbs evenly onto the bottom and up the sides of the pan.

Pour the sweet potato mixture into the crust and spread evenly with a rubber spatula.

Put the chocolate morsels and the remaining 1/2 cup of milk in a medium-size saucepan over medium heat and stir constantly until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth. Spoon the chocolate in three rows, about 2 inches apart, lengthwise over the sweet potato mixture. Then, with a knife, make a zigzag pattern to marbleize  the chocolate and the sweet potato mixture.

Bake until the edges are browned and the filling is set, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. To serve, cut into bars.

Breakfast Apple Granola Crisp

from Smitten Kitchen

3 pounds of whatever apples, or mix of apples, you like to bake with, peeled, cored and cut into medium chunks
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons or 4 ounces) unsalted butter
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup flour
2 cups oats
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened, as you wish; I used unsweetened)

Preheat oven to 400°F. Mix apple chunks with lemon juice, sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and pinch of salt in a 9×13-inch baking dish until apples are evenly coated. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter with the honey. Stir in the flour, oats, almonds, coconut and another pinch of salt until clumps form. Sprinkle evenly over the apple mixture and bake in the oven for about 45 to 55 minutes, or until the apples are softened and bubbly. Should the granola brown before you wish it to, cover the baking dish carefully with foil for all but the last few minutes of baking time, when removing the foil will help the granola recrisp. Cool to room temperature and then stash in the fridge to eat with your morning yogurt.