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Purple Sweet Potato Skins with Brie and Sweet Walnuts is an elegant appetizer, side dish for poultry or roasted meet, or even a main dish. Sweet potato meets crunchy, tangy and sweet for a perfect mélange.
Sweet potatoes are like chicken. You can NEVER have too many recipes for them!
We sweet potato lovers comb cookbooks and the electronic airwaves in search of the next best thing. Sure, we have our fall-back favorite recipes, but we’re like sharks, always moving forward, seeking new prey.
And so when I stumbled upon this elegant formula for a baked sweet potato skin, I knew it was going to have a starring role in my upcoming holiday dinners.
How do you serve Purple Sweet Potato Skins?
- Beside slices of turkey for Thanksgiving dinner or on the day after Thanksgiving when the relatives are still there and you want to serve something new and nice
- With a roast chicken dinner
- With pork chops or pork tenderloin
- On the plate with roast beef for Christmas
- As a substantial appetizer
- As a meatless vegetarian main dish, perhaps with a green salad on the plate, and some cut fruit for dessert.
How to make Purple Sweet Potato Skins with Brie and Sweet Walnuts
First, as always, gather your ingredients so you know you have everything on hand. For these potatoes, I am using…
Stokes Purple® Sweet Potatoes, which are a non-GMO, U.S.-grown version whose flesh stays bright, deep purple after you cook them. They’re mildly sweet, are a good source of Vitamin C, and are chock full of anthocyanins — the antioxidant that contributes the purple hue to this potato and to blueberries. (Don’t confuse these with Japanese Sweet Potatoes (aka Murasaki) which have a purple skin but white flesh. Or the Okinawan sweet potato, which is white skin with a more mottled purple flesh. Or with Ube, purple yams that are a staple in Filipino desserts; it’s difficult to find ube fresh so you’ll see it in jam, powder, extract or frozen.)
Butter- Brie
- Red walnuts (or use regular walnuts; I thought the red ones were pretty!). Red walnuts are a relatively a new variety grown in California that is slightly less bitter than regular walnuts (to my taste buds anyway). They’re gorgeous, too, so score!
- Vanilla syrup (Heilala vanilla syrup is my absolute favorite brand if you can find it, but if you cannot, make your own by simmering 1/3-1/2 cup sugar with 1/2 cup water until sugar is dissolved, then take it off the heat and add 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract. Voila, you have just made Vanilla syrup!). OR USE real maple syrup for this recipe.
- Chives for a garnish (or chopped parsley…just something to add a green spark of interest).
Bake the purple sweet potatoes until they’re just tender but not mushy. Cut in half vertically.
Use a small spoon to scoop out some of the flesh to make room for the brie. (Use the scooped flesh in waffles, pancakes, quick bread or make mashed sweet potatoes out of it by adding a splash of half and half, some butter and some chives, dill, garlic or whatever else you like in your mashed spuds.) Drizzle or brush with melted butter, then bake more to crisp them up a bit.
Top with sliced brie and walnuts, and bake to melt the cheese.
Drizzle lightly with syrup, fling a few chopped chives on for color (or chopped parsley). My chive plant was flowering, so I clipped the flower and placed it alongside for decoration.
Elegant appetizer, side dish for poultry or roasted meet, or even a main dish. Sweet potato meets crunchy, tangy and sweet for a perfect mélange.
Ingredients
- 2 Stokes purple sweet potatoes
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon melted butter (Kerrygold preferred)
- 4 ounces brie with rind removed
- 1/2 cup Red Walnuts
- Heilala Vanilla Syrup or real maple syrup (see note below)
- Garnish: fresh chives
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Scrub the outside of the potatoes and dry them. Poke a small hole in the skin (so it doesn’t explode in the oven) and bake in the oven for 35-45 minutes, or until just tender but not mushy. Remove from the oven and let cool.
- Cut the potatoes in half. Scoop out some of the flesh of the potatoes and reserve it for another use (I suggest pancakes or waffles or quick bread). Season halves with freshly ground black pepper, and drizzle with melted butter.
- Place the skins on a baking sheet and return to the oven to bake for about 10 minutes, or until crisp.
- Top each skin with 1 ounce of brie. Place the skins on a baking sheet and broil until the cheese is bubbly; about 5 minutes. Place walnuts on top, drizzle with your choice of syrup, and garnish with chopped chives.
- Serves 2-4, depending on whether it is an appetizer or side dish, or the main course.
Notes
Advice and wisdom from those who have made these before, gleaned from the Food Network website:
1. Plan on only 1 potato half per person as an appetizer or side; these are rich!
2. Don’t overcook the potatoes in the first bake or they will become too soft to hold the toppings.
3. The original recipe called for “1 cup Walnuts in syrup,” which is apparently an ice cream topping in the aisle with the hot fudge and maraschino cherries. It doesn’t seem to be a California thing (I couldn’t find it), so I used pretty red walnuts drizzled with vanilla syrup (or with maple syrup) as a substitute.
BACKSTORY FOR THIS RECIPE: I found and adapted this wonderful recipe through the blog “A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures,” written by Christie Campbell. We were part of a blog appreciation group where we cooked recipes from each other's food blogs. She had posted her recipe for Sweet Potato Skins, and then eventually submitted it to the "Emeril Live" TV show for a potato contest. She won, and they called it Elegant Sweet Potato Skins!
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At ShockD, you’ll find scrumptious, tried & true, "scary good" recipes, tips and coaching to make YOU a fabulous home cook! Don't blame me if you need a 12-step program to wean yourself away!
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What a creative recipe with these purple sweet potato skins.
Meagan,
Thank you!
Wow….how cool that you’ve made an ‘award-winning’ recipe! I’ve never seen purple sweet potatoes, but they really made a striking presentation for a tasty dish.
Christiane,
If you can’t find the purple variety, try it with garnet yams. Should be every bit as good!
This is my kind of sweetpotato skin! I am a huge brie lover, yum.
Fabiola,
Brie is a yumfest, that’s for sure!
I have never seen purple sweet potatoes before. They make for such a striking dish!
Sarah,
They are starting to become more popular, so I’ll bet you’ll see them in your markets soon!
WOW! What a stunningly beautiful food, and they sound so delicious, too. Awesome pick for the SRC this month!
Thank you Amy! I am like a proud mama showing off my beautiful baby.
What a great (and gorgeous) appetizer. Who knew sweet potatoes could be so elegant! Cracked up on the chicken mention – I thought at first you were going to say you can never have too many chickens. I tried for years to get my husband excited about the idea of raising chickens. Apparently one was too many for him 🙂
Thanks Susan/Wimpy,
I would love to have chickens, but we live near the hills and the coyotes roam our backyard at will. Those chickens would be dinner for THEM!
Elegant indeed! I like the flower in the last shot.
Thank you Hapatite! I am flattered!
Quite elegant and classy. I can’t wait to make this!
Absolutely gorgeous…great SRC pick!
Asiya,
Thanks! They did turn out really pretty!
These are lovely and you are right, they would make a beautiful addition to a holiday table.
Thanks Wendy! I’m thinking a Thanksgiving buffet.
Super elegant indeed! And a huge laugh with the comparison of sweet potatoes with chicken… you are too funny!
I bet this recipe could get the most popular award this month, super creative and gorgeous!
Sally,
Thanks! Oooo, an award? How cool would THAT be!
These are gorgeous!! What a great combination of flavors and love the colors! Happy Reveal Day. 🙂
Thanks Rebekah! These purple spuds are awesome!
I love sweet potatoes and I love brie. This is the ultimate comfort food for me. What a great pick!!
Emily,
We intended to eat it as a starter, but my husband and I both reached for another half of the potato and that ended up being our dinner! Happy about it.
I discovered purple sweet potatoes this year and love them, not just for the taste, but for how pretty they are! This recipe certainly dresses them up.
April,
They really are little works of art with that color, eh?
These look great! How did you find the potatoes? I have never seen them before! They do look so elegant and delicious Dorothy!
Karen,
Not sure where you live, but in Southern California, conventionally grown Stokes Purple® Sweet Potatoes are available at Sprouts and Gelson’s. The organic Stokes are available at Ralphs.
this is so unusual, and the colors are stunning!
Thanks Sue!
I almost made this recipe when I had her blog! Sounds like SUCH a great combination!! I don’t think I have ever seen purple sweet potatoes OR red walnuts. How fun!! Your photos are gorgeous!
Jess,
Thank you! The red walnuts have just been on the market a year or 2, and they have a short season — holiday baking time!
What a wonderful pick for this month’s src. My family doesn’t care for brie cheese but we do love Kerrygold cheese which would be a great substitute. I’ve got to make these for Thanksgiving:) Lynn
Lynn,
Sure, Kerrygold would be a great substitute! (Kerrygold goes with EVERYTHING!)
Betsy/Desserts,
You are correct, ma’am!