Lunch: Sweet Potato Tart with Cream Cheese-Pecan Crust

Recipe by Julia Dowling Rutland Serve up the sweet flavors of fall with this cinnamon-scented Sweet Potato Tart with Cream Cheese-Pecan Crust.

This recipe includes superfoods such as:

Cinnamon

Health benefits of Sweet Potato Tart with Cream Cheese-Pecan Crust

Cinnamon is one of the best ingredients that someone with insulin sensitivity can eat. Half a teaspoon of cinnamon per day has been shown to be very effective at normalizing blood sugar levels. Cinnamon contains hydroxychalcone, which is thought to enhance the effects of insulin. It has also been suggested that Cinnamon prevents post-meal blood sugar spikes by slowing the gastric emptying rate - meaning that food digests slowly. (Reference: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11506060).

Ingredients

Cream Cheese-Pecan Pastry
1 (16-ounce) can sweet potatoes, drained, or 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 large eggs
1/2 cup half-and-half or whipping cream
Garnish: sweetened whipped cream

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 °. Roll pastry between 2 sheets of lightly floured plastic wrap into a 12-inch circle. Fit into an 11-inch shallow, metal, removable bottom tart pan, trimming excess pastry; chill.
Meanwhile, beat sweet potatoes with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth. Beat in sweetened condensed milk and next 6 ingredients. Beat in eggs and half-and-half. Pour mixture into chilled crust.
Place tart on a baking sheet; bake 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 325 °; bake 10 more minutes or until center is set. Let tart cool completely on a wire rack. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Garnish, if desired.
*Note: You can prepare the tart in a 9-inch-deep pie plate, omitting about 1/2 cup filling.