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Sausage & Corn Chile Con Queso Taco Ring

Sausage & Corn Chile Con Queso Taco Ring

To Whom It May Concern: I’d like to submit my application to the superhero club. The superheroes we have now are all pretty unrealistic, in my opinion, and I think the world needs a superhero it can relate to. If accepted, I’d like to be kind of like Wonder Woman. But with pants, please.

Sausage & Corn Chile Con Queso Taco Ring

Qualification #1: This past week I woke up at 5:15 in the morning not once but twice to make it to the 6 a.m. cycle class at my gym. I pedaled my heart out for 45 minutes and actually increased the resistance on my bike every time the instructor told us to. Mostly.

Sausage & Corn Chile Con Queso Taco Ring

After class, I went through the awkward and delicate ritual of Showering At the Gym. This includes various trials such as the Don’t-Let-the-Towel-Drop dance as you apply lotion, the Am-I-Going-to-Get-MRSA shimmy as you try to shower without touching any surface, and finally, the Lug-All-My-Toiletries-Back-to-My-Car shuffle.

Certainly cinching my admittance into the superhero club is the fact that after these shenanigans, I actually made it to work on time.

Sausage & Corn Chile Con Queso Taco Ring

Qualification #2: I made dinner three nights in a row this week despite working a more-than-full-time job. Night 2 was kind of lame, but nights 1 and 3 were awesome enough to make up for it.

This Sausage & Corn Chile Con Queso Taco Ring was night 3’s dinner, and Whoever It Concerns, I have to tell you that this was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. It trumps all regular tacos and taco rings, and even my Taco Stuffed Crescent Rolls, which is really saying something. Because those things are nuts.

Sausage & Corn Chile Con Queso Taco Ring

This Sausage & Corn Chile Con Queso Taco Ring is stuffed with a mixture of hot sausage, sweet corn, green chiles, cheddar cheese, and cream cheese. The result is a creamy, savory masterpiece with a little kick — not too much for kids — that is so delicious with some crisp iceberg lettuce, chopped tomatoes, salsa, fresh guacamole, and sour cream. Since it uses Pillsbury Crescent Rolls, it’s quick and easy to whip up.

In conclusion, despite what Edna Mode says, I will prepare my cape. Thank you for your consideration.

One year ago: Vanilla Custard Soaked Pumpkin Poke Cake
Two years ago: Pumpkin Spice Pull-Apart Bread with Butter Rum Glaze
Three years ago: Chocolate Peanut Butter Bliss Cheesecake
Four years ago: Mini-Pies: Pumpkin, Peach Crisp, and Sour Cream Apple

Sausage & Corn Chile Con Queso Taco Ring

Recipe by: Willow Bird Baking
Yield: 5-6 portions

Forget your usual tacos and even your usual taco rings: this taco ring is an explosion of hot sausage con queso with green chiles. It’s gonna blow your mind! And it’s so easy to make.

Ingredients:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, plus more for topping
2 tablespoons salsa of your choice
1 tablespoon diced green chiles
1 pound hot sausage
olive oil (if needed)
1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels
1 tablespoon taco seasoning
2 cans Pillsbury Crescent Rolls

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and cover a round pizza pan with foil sprayed with cooking spray (or use a pizza stone or baking sheet). Place cream cheese, cheese, salsa, and chiles in a large bowl and set aside.

In a skillet over medium-high heat, brown the sausage. Remove the meat to a paper-towel lined plate to drain, reserving the grease in the skillet. As soon as sausage has drained for a minute, pour it into the cream cheese bowl. Set this aside to allow the cheeses to melt.

In the meantime, pour corn kernels into the skillet over medium heat (adding a little olive oil if there’s not enough grease) and cook 5-6 minutes or until heated through. Stir in 2 teaspoons of taco seasoning towards the end of cooking. Pour the hot corn over the cream cheese and sausage mixture. Stir together until well combined (it’ll take a bit, but it’ll come together).

Carefully unroll packages of crescent rolls, separating them into long triangles. Place triangles, points out, in a sun-like ring (allowing bases of the triangles to overlap). Press down on the overlapping bases to flatten the center of the ring to a consistent thickness. (If you’d like to see a video of these steps, I loved this one). Spoon sausage mixture all around the ring (you’ll need to really pile it high) and then tuck the points up and over the mixture. Bake until golden brown (let it get really golden to avoid doughiness), around 15 minutes. During the last few minutes of cooking, top it with cheddar cheese. Serve with salsa, cilantro, sour cream, chips, and guacamole.

If you want a winning weeknight dinner the family will enjoy, use Pillsbury Crescent Rolls. Get more recipes at http://www.Pillsbury.com.

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by General Mills via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are all mine, however, and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of General Mills.

September 16, 2013 by Julie Ruble | 8 Comments

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Smoked Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Sweet Coleslaw

Smoked Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Sweet Coleslaw

Do you know one of those backyard-food-people? One of those people who have attempted to fry a whole turkey in their backyards at great personal peril? Or one of those who owns and employs a device that smokes meat in their backyard all day? Who makes their own beef jerky? What?!

You know one of those people, I’m sure. I know a few. I can’t poke too much fun at them because I do so love the fried turkey my sis- and bro-in-law made, and I’m crazy about the smoked pork butt my dad makes for special occasions. I appreciate those backyard food pioneers.

Smoked Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Sweet Coleslaw

I also can’t poke too much fun at them because this past weekend, I became one of those people. Masterbuilt sent me their Electric Digital Smokehouse and asked me to try it out. Mike and I wanted to fire it up over Labor Day weekend; alas, it rained. So this weekend it was!

Disclosure: Masterbuilt sent me this electric smokehouse for free so I could try it out. Opinions I share with you are always honest and authentically my own.

I think Mike and I were both skeptical when the smokehouse arrived and we saw how complicated it seemed. It felt a little fussy to put together and it’s certainly not the tool you’d use to churn out a quick weeknight dinner. Now that we’ve actually used it, though, we’re both kind of hooked. And I think we’ve gotten the right perspective: using the smoker is more of an experience, a crafting process, a hobby. You experiment with different wood chips, rubs, meats, cooking times. It feels like developing a special recipe. It’s not just about cooking meat — there are faster ways to do that. It’s about perfecting meat. I can get into this!

And after the setup, it turned out using the smokehouse was a cinch: you preheat it, load your wood chips through an easy loader built into the smokehouse, stick your meat in, set the timer, and wait, adding more chips as needed. As our pork was smoking, Mike started brainstorming what else we could smoke and I started wondering how hickory wood chips might change the flavor of the meat. We were all set to give the smokehouse away after trying it, but neither of us is mentioning it going anywhere anymore!

Since we’re in an apartment complex, we used our new smoker down in our paved courtyard. We were worried that it might produce enough smoke to prompt neighbors to call the fire department, but we needn’t have worried. The smoke really wasn’t so bad. The aroma of smoking pork actually prompted a decidedly positive response from neighbors, instead!

You know what I loved about the smokehouse? It seemed clean and simple. There’s a digital display where you easily set the temperature and timer. There’s a remote control. There’s no gas or anything — it just plugs in an outlet. There’s a window to see inside without having to open the door and smoke yourself. There’s the wood chip loader in the side for the same reason. I just like that it didn’t have to feel like I was stuck in a charcoal pit to join the ranks of the smokeheads (is that what you call people who do this? I hope I didn’t just accidentally make some sort of drug reference. YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.)

Smoked Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Sweet Coleslaw from Masterbuilt Electric Digital Smokehouse
Masterbuilt Electric Digital Smokehouse after smoking

I also love that after letting it smoke away outside all day with minimal effort on our part, we have enough food to last all week. Pork sandwiches, pork wraps, and pork enchiladas all around! And we could’ve fit plenty more veggies and roasts in the smoker if we’d wanted.

The best part about the smoker, though, wasn’t the quantity but the quality of the resulting meat. This pork was juicy, falling off the bone, and flavorful. No barbecue sauce needed here: the best-ever barbecue rub did all the spice work! We stuffed onion rolls full of juicy, tender meat topped with sweet coleslaw. I put some pimiento cheese on mine for good measure (Mike said I was gross.)

Smoked Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Sweet Coleslaw

Ultimately, I never would’ve forked out the money to buy this smokehouse on my own — but all the more reason I’m glad Masterbuilt sent one over and made me a believer. It’s a considerable investment with models running from $229 to $389, but if you have the money, this appliance certainly pulls its weight. I can’t wait to try it again! What meat should I smoke next, you guys?!

One year ago: German Chocolate Cheesecake
Two years ago: Gooey Cookies & Cream Bars
Three years ago: Bittersweet Marbled Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies
Four years ago: Peach Crisp Pie

Smoked Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Sweet Coleslaw

Recipe by: Willow Bird Baking using a rub by Chris Schlesinger
Yield: a billion servings or pork. Or at least, like, 15.

How I love great pulled pork! This recipe uses a smoker, but you could also smoke your pork roast any way you’re used to smoking (my dad does his with his grill). The key is not to jump the gun in pulling it out — really let it smoke until it’s falling apart. Oh, and don’t forget to use the great spice rub!

Ingredients:
1 (6.5-pound) Boston Butt pork roast
Best Barbecue Rub
a few cups of hickory or mesquite wood chips
1 head cabbage
1 carrot
1 onion
6 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons white vinegar
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
dash cayenne pepper
1-2 tablespoons mayonnaise to taste
buns of your choice

Directions:
The night before you plan to cook your pork, make your slaw: shred the cabbage, onion, and carrot in the food processor. In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, vinegar, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Pour in shredded veggies and mix well. Cover this and let it sit out while you prepare your pork. Then put it in the fridge (or let it sit out; nothing in it is perishable yet) overnight.

Also the night before, prepare your pork. Trim off some of the fat cap if there is one (I left about half of the thickness on). Generously rub your roast all over with the best barbecue rub. You won’t use the whole batch of rub that you made; you’ll probably use about half of it. Since you’ll want to save the rest, don’t put your raw-porky-hands into the rub’s container, but instead use a spoon to dispense the rub onto the pork before rubbing it in. Place the rubbed pork into a metal pan that you know will fit into your smoker, cover it, and let it sit overnight in the fridge.

Early in the morning before your pork dinner, put wood chips in your smoker and preheat it to 225 degrees for around 30 minutes (or according to manufacturer’s instructions.) Uncover your pork and place it into the preheated smoker, smoking it for around 8 hours (that’s how long it took for our 6.5-pound roast). Replace wood chips in your smoker as needed throughout the day, and also mix your cole slaw every now and again. After 8 hours of smoking, cover the pork roast with foil and cook for another hour.

When pork is almost ready, add 1-2 tablespoons of mayonnaise to your cole slaw and mix well. Chill until ready to serve. Heat or toast your buns. When pork is ready, shred it with two forks and mix it in its juices. Pile it high on a bun, top with sweet slaw, and enjoy!

September 9, 2013 by Julie Ruble | 18 Comments

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Spaghetti Squash Baked “Pasta” Boats

In my childhood spelling bees, we all stood in a little line and the teacher called out words that, had we confronted them on paper, would’ve appeared totally innocuous. When tossed at our blank 6th-grade stares like a verbal grenade, however, they might as well have been spoken in Swahili. I remember wanting so badly to win the bee at least one year; I was a great writer and speller, so it only made sense that I should win, right? Each bee, though, I would realize that oral competitions had a tricky logic all their own. Before long, I’d reach the inevitable moment where the letters I’d already said and the letters I still needed to say would combine in a sticky, confusing web in my brain.

One year “eclipse” was my downfall.

The next year, “monotonous.”

Now that I’m a teacher, I’ve noticed you can learn a lot about your students during a classroom spelling bee.

For instance, I learned that Chase is very conscientious.

On his turn, he got the word “obituary.” A funny look came over his face. “Ms. Ruble, is it okay if . . . well, while I’m spelling this word, I might spell a . . .,” he struggled to complete his thought. I realized where he was going and had to stifle a laugh.

“Just spell it however you think it’s spelled and it will be fine, Chase.”

He began, “O-b-i-t-c-h–“

Once he had finished and I had corrected his spelling, we had to pause the bee for a moment. We were all laughing uncontrollably, Chase included, and I was in no position to call the next word.

I also learned that Shreena is cursed. While students around her got words like “platoon” and “pantheon,” she ended up with “hors d’oeuvres” and “delinquency.” Aubrey shook her head and patted Shreena’s shoulder sympathetically.

I want you to know that I have never in my life spelled hors d’oeuvres correctly without looking it up, and I’m the language arts teacher and a food blogger and I took 5 and a half years of French.

I also learned that Will has flair.

When he messed up the first letter of a word, instead of just giving up, he gave it the most creative alternate spelling he could come up with. I think there was a Q, Z, and even a 3 in there.

I learned that none of my students — at least, none who received the word — can spell “deodorant.” I made sure to teach them how, just in case they would otherwise have trouble finding it in the grocery store. I might have also mentioned how middle school is the ideal time to begin wearing said product if they’ve not already done so. Just a quick side lesson for good measure.

Finally, I learned that my students rock (honestly, I already knew this.) Augury, fabulist, vernal, inimitable, salubrious, compendium, and nominative are just a few of the words they spelled correctly.

The spelling bee is fun for so many reasons — not least of all because it’s a simple “lesson plan” day for me. I have a simple dinner plan waiting for me tonight, too. I first saw these little squash boats on Skinnytaste, a blog I love, and couldn’t believe what a quick and healthy dinner fix they were. I tweaked mine with a little turkey pepperoni, and now I can’t stop whipping up this dish each night. I hope you love it too.

One year ago: Caramelized Banana Upside-Down Coconut Cake & Coconut Whipped Cream
Two years ago: Lemon Berry Crumble Breakup Bars
Three years ago: Pecan Maple Bacon Pancakes

Spaghetti Squash Baked “Pasta” Boats

Recipe by: Adapted from Skinnytaste
Yield: 2 servings

This baked “pasta” recipe is so quick and simple — it makes good use of the microwave and spaghetti squash to create a satisfying, comforting meal without the added calories and carbs from regular pasta. Each serving comes in around 470 calories, 45 grams net carbs (discounting the 12 grams fiber), and 24 grams of protein with a 2.5 pound squash (data from SparkPeople).

Ingredients:
1 medium/large spaghetti squash (mine was about 2.5 pounds)
30 slices turkey pepperoni, chopped (leave out for a vegetarian meal)
1 1/2 cup jarred vodka pasta sauce
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
about 1-2 ounces mozzarella cheese
1 teaspoon salt or to taste (less for a smaller squash)
pepper to taste

Directions:
Halve the squash and scrape out the seeds and fibers in the middle. Poke a few holes in each half. Microwave the squash, one half at a time, for 9-10 minutes each half.

Preheat the broiler. While microwaving the squash, place the chopped pepperoni, vodka sauce, basil (reserving a bit for topping), and salt and pepper in a medium bowl. When the squash is finished and has cooled for a couple of minutes, use two forks to scrape the squash flesh into the bowl (it will separate into spaghetti-like “noodles”), reserving the squash skins to serve as bowls. Mix the squash and sauce mixture well until all ingredients are distributed. Divide this mixture into your two squash bowls.

Top each squash half with mozzarella cheese and a little more freshly ground pepper. Broil for a few minutes until bubbly. Remove and top with the reserved fresh basil. Serve hot.

January 15, 2013 by Julie Ruble | 28 Comments

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Croque Madame French Toast Cups

My 7th grade students and I spent most of class today making fun of their writing.

Wait, that sounds bad, doesn’t it? Am I currently losing teacher points? I definitely would’ve lost a few if you’d walked in and seen me reading a student’s paper aloud, barely restraining laughter (while the class didn’t even bother trying.)

Reserve judgment, though! I promise it’s not as bad as it sounds.

See, the students were actually nominating themselves for this roasting. The papers we were snickering at were their earliest assignments from last year, and they were so amusing because the kids are so much better at writing now. Because they grow by leaps and bounds over the two years I teach them, I always plan a day at the end of 7th grade for them to complete a writing reflection. Today was that day.

I originally planned the reflection to be an individual, silent activity. Every year, however, it inevitably evolves into a class-wide discussion, mostly because they love to share the absurd things they find in their early work. About 5 minutes into the assignment, a student will raise his or her hand to announce, “My handwriting was terrible back then!” Another hand will shoot into the air: “I used periods in a list where I should have used commas!” Another hand: “This sentence didn’t even make sense!”

My favorite moment today was when E. and A. shared their “thesaurusy” papers. After I exhorted them at the beginning of the year to work on their word choice, both girls resorted to the thesaurus. It was an excellent impulse, but their execution was . . . ah, imperfect. They doubled over in laughter today as they shared sentences from that early paper: “I reckon human cloning is spurious,” and “I conjecture that human cloning is shoddy.”

I’m happy to report that both girls use more appropriate diction these days.

All of the good-natured ribbing and laughter today did make their writing analysis take longer, and I could have shushed them and redirected their focus. The truth is, though, I relish their incredulity. I’ve saved all of their writing for two years just to savor this moment with them. They giggle at themselves and at others, search for concrete ways their writing has improved, and realize that the 360 language arts classes they just completed actually taught them something.

Secretly, their reflection becomes my reflection: what did my course accomplish? How have these kids grown?

For my students, I provide reflection opportunities like this, complete with detailed prompts to guide their thoughts. For me, though, reflecting is like breathing. I’m naturally introspective (sometimes to a fault!) so that I can hardly plan the future without evaluating (and re-evaluating, and re-evaluating again) the past.

Recently, pondering the past led me to revisit these adorable stuffed French toast cups. They’re one of my favorite breakfast/brunch recipes and I’ve known for awhile that I wanted to create some variations on the French toast cup theme.

In these little Croque Madame Cups, sweet French toast cradles salty ham, mellow Gruyère cheese, and a gorgeous yolky baked egg. The cups self-sauce as the yolk breaks over the contents, and with a quick dip in some maple syrup, each bite is perfection. They’re a little more fiddly than just making French toast or just making a sandwich, but they’re cute enough for a fancy brunch and so worth the effort.

They were a delicious, luxurious way to reinvent my French toast cups, but I’m betting I’m not finished yet! Those cups are destined for even more fun fillings.

Since we’re being reflective today, reflect on your year so far: how have you grown in 2012?

One year ago: Blueberry Cream Cheese Almond Braid
Two years ago: Lemon Triumph Cake

Croque Madame French Toast Cups

Recipe by: Willow Bird Baking
Yield: 8 cups

These little Croque Madame French Toast Cups take two messy dishes — a traditional croque madame and French toast — and combine them in finger food format. Apart from being more convenient to serve and eat at a brunch or breakfast, they’re outright adorable. I love the gorgeous flavor of Gruyère in each cup, but if you’re on a budget you can use good Swiss. Make sure to buy good quality ham, though, because it really makes the dish.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup heavy cream, plus 8 teaspoons, divided
1/2 cup milk
3 large eggs plus 4-8 eggs, divided (see note below)
2 tablespoons honey, microwaved for 20 seconds (but not while still IN THE BEAR, y’all!)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 slices day-old or stale sandwich bread
4 tablespoons butter
a couple of slices good ham
a couple of slices Gruyère cheese (or Swiss) and some grated for topping
salt and pepper

Directions:
Note: Cracking the egg over each French toast cup before baking is the hardest part of this recipe, because a whole egg has too much liquid and overflows the cup. I’ll tell you what I did to get the right amount of egg in each cup, and then I’ll make a suggestion for how you might be able to do it even easier. What I did is crack the egg and pry it open just enough to let half the white and half the yolk slip into one French toast cup (using the shell to reserve the other half of the egg). I then released the other half of the egg over another cup. I think it’d be even easier, though, to just crack 8 eggs into a wide bowl and use a spoon to scoop a yolk and a little white out into each French toast cup. You’d end up using more eggs, but this way each cup will have a whole yolk, which is lovely!

In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, cream, eggs, honey, cinnamon, and salt (this step can be done the night before and refrigerated). When you’re ready to cook your French toast, pour this mixture into a cake pan or pie dish.

Prepare your bread by removing the crusts (I stack the slices and use a long serrated knife to remove all the crusts at once) and roll each slice with a rolling pin to slightly flatten and elongate it. Dip each slice of bread into your custard mixture for about 8-10 seconds on each side before carefully removing it with a spatula to a cooling rack over a sheet pan or over the sink. Allow the excess moisture to drain off of the slices for 1-2 minutes.

To cook French toast, melt 1 tablespoon of butter over medium heat in a skillet. Put 2 slides of bread at a time into the pan and toast gently to golden brown (about 2-3 minutes per side). Remove the French toast to a cooling rack to cool completely. Repeat with all the slices of bread, replenishing butter in the pan as needed. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. When the French toast is cool enough to handle, take each piece and gently tuck it into the well of a greased muffin tin, forming a bowl. Tuck some ham and Gruyère cheese in each cup. Place an egg over top (see above note). Lightly salt and pepper each cup and then top each egg with 1 teaspoon heavy cream.

Bake the cups at 400 degrees F for 10-12 minutes, watching carefully. Pull them out when the white is set but the yolk is not fully cooked through (has a little jiggle.) Top each cup with a little shredded Gruyère when they’re hot from the oven. Set them out to cool and continue cooking from their residual heat (at least 10 minutes). Use a knife to loosen the edges from the pan (and you might even need to use it as a lever to loosen the bottom of the cup, since some of the egg will have leaked out and sealed the cup to its well.) Remove the cups to a serving plate (if they seem to be wobbly, leave them in the pan a little longer). Serve them warm on a bed of maple syrup.

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June 5, 2012 by Julie Ruble | 26 Comments

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Sweet Tater & Chorizo Hand Tarts

In light of Willow Bird Baking’s Cooking Hard Stuff Challenge, I’ll be sharing some tips for tackling new or challenging recipes throughout the month of March. If you haven’t signed on for the challenge yet, make sure you read about it and join in the fun — there are still a few days left!

Cooking Hard Stuff Tip #3: Make a schedule.

two sweet tater hand tart options

In college, my personality type changed. According to the Meyers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator, I went from an INFP to an INFJ. That tells you all sorts of things about me (maybe too much), but that little switch from P to J also tells you a lot about Davidson College, where I went to school. Davidson can make a P into a J in one semester flat (and the café can make a good PB&J, too, while we’re throwing letters around.)

P means “perceiving,” which means you make decisions and act while taking in information. P people present themselves as more spontaneous, since they like to continually take in new information and adapt to it. J people are “judging” (not judgmental!), which means they prefer to take in information and make a decision before acting. These people present themselves as more rigid and organized. They might be schedulers, for instance.

Davidson — where there was literally more work than there was time to complete it and get any reasonable amount of sleep — taught me to be a scheduler. Turns out that comes in handy when Cooking Hard Stuff.

Sometimes hard recipes take forever. That’s not a bad thing; besides the fact that time in the kitchen is edifying and therapeutic, the results of these recipes are often worth the extra effort. Croissants and puff pastry take two days to prepare. Yeast bread often has to rise for several hours. Mousses and cheesecakes sometimes have to chill overnight. Good things come to those who can stand to wait.

The problem for me is usually not being patient, but figuring out how and when to wait. For instance, I probably should not start a recipe late at night if it has to chill for three hours before the next step. Nevertheless, countless times I’ve found myself awake in the wee hours of the morning or canceling plans to babysit something in the oven or fridge. My solution to this — and one I wholeheartedly recommend to anyone Cooking Hard Stuff — is to make a list or schedule.

Making an ordered to-do list of prep work allows you to spend less time running around deciding what task to complete next and more time efficiently enjoying each process. If a recipe includes extensive resting, chilling, or baking periods, you can also pencil approximate times you’ll complete each step onto your list. Finally, if a recipe can be broken up over several days (many of the fancy cheesecakes on Willow Bird Baking can be broken up over three days), break down what you’ll be doing on which day so that you can enjoy yourself.

You’re probably going to make fun of me, but since I’m a visual person, I actually draw my schedules out in blocks. Here’s an example. The blocks help me see, relatively, how long each step will take, and when I might have time to walk the dog, jump in the shower, or go get lunch with a friend.

These Sweet Tater & Chorizo Tarts are fortunately simple to make. You could use premade pie dough (or even crescent roll dough for a super easy meal), but it’s also easy to prepare homemade pie dough while roasting your sweet potatoes. You can then mix up the filling while the pie dough chills, cool the filling while you roll the dough out, assemble your tarts, and bake. Draw out a little schedule for yourself (maybe something like this?) and enjoy the process.

And even more, enjoy the product. The natural sweetness of the sweet taters is fantastic with the spicy chorizo and cumin scented black beans. The flaky pastry crust (or buttery crescent roll) around the filling rounds out the flavor and makes each little tart fun to eat. This is one of Mike’s new favorite dinners!

Do you know your Meyers-Briggs personality type? Are you a planner/scheduler, or more of a free spirit?

Sweet Potato & Chorizo Hand Tarts

Recipe by: Willow Bird Baking, inspired in part by Joy the Baker‘s tacos
Yield: about 7-10 tarts, or 12 crescents

This sweet tater and chorizo filling is so scrumptious, I want to incorporate it into every dinner! In this recipe, I stuffed pie pastry and crescent roll dough with it to make plump, cheesy, Tex-Mexy hand tarts. They’re spicy, creamy, flaky, with a touch of natural sweetness from the roasted sweet potatoes. A plate of these with some sour cream, salsa, and cilantro on the side is more than enough for a hearty dinner.

Ingredients:
2 recipes pie pastry (or 1 package refrigerated pie pastry, or 2 cans giant crescent rolls)
1 sweet potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
kosher salt to taste
1/2 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 heaping tablespoon finely chopped onion
about 5 ounces chorizo
2 ounces cream cheese
spritz lime juice
1/8 cup sharp cheddar cheese, plus more for topping

optional garnishes: lime wedges, cilantro, sour cream, salsa, guacamole

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Toss sweet potatoes with 2 teaspoons of olive oil, kosher salt, and chili powder. Spread the potatoes on a foil-lined baking sheet and roast until fork-tender, about 20-25 minutes.

While the potatoes roast, place cream cheese and cheddar cheese in a medium bowl. Brown the chorizo in a skillet over medium-high heat until it’s fully cooked through, and then pour it over the cheese mixture. Let it melt the cheeses for a minute or two before mixing well. Without wiping the skillet out, add 1 teaspoon of olive oil to the skillet. Add the onion, garlic, and cumin and toast for about 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add the beans and cook until they’re fully warmed through. Add the bean mixture over top of the cheese and chorizo and mix gently until it’s well combined. When the sweet potatoes are fully cooked, fold them into the mixture. Add a spritz of lime juice and kosher salt to taste.

Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or cooking spray. Roll out the pie pastry to about 1/8 inch thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut it into roughly 4 in. x 3 in. rectangles. Spoon a generous portion of the sweet potato mixture onto every other rectangle and then sprinkle some cheddar cheese onto each one. Top these with the unused rectangles and crimp the sides together with a fork. Cut a steam vent in each pastry and place it on the prepared baking sheet. (If using crescent rolls, just unroll them and spoon a heaping helping of the sweet potato mixture into each one before rolling it up. Sprinkle some cheese on top.) Bake the tarts for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown (or bake crescents according to package instructions). Serve warm with lime wedges, cilantro, sour cream, salsa, and/or guacamole.

P.S. This dish will be entered in the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission‘s No More ‘Mallows Recipe Contest. I love me some sweet tater and marshmallow casserole, but I also love that sweet potatoes pack a lot of savory potential.