Sweet Potato Nutrient Bars - Healthy and Flavorful Nutritious Snack

When I over-steamed a sweet potato, a casual mixture led to the creation of the prototype for these nutrient bars. Due to a shortage in quantity on the first attempt, I decided to measure approximately the right amount using another sweet potato while documenting the process. The next day, while preparing breakfast, I boiled another sweet potato and simultaneously boiled two eggs. I incorporated a cooked egg yolk into the sweet potato mash and substituted water with milk. Diverse preferences lead to diverse outcomes. These sturdy, nutty nutrient bars encapsulate a soft and yielding inner texture, tailored to individual preferences. These bars, without added sugar, serve as a teething aid for toddlers. Their resilient texture ensures they are soft enough not to harm gums. For adults (like myself) facing cravings without hunger, slowly chewing on a bar also serves as a satisfying snack.

Ingredients:

• Cooked egg yolk, 1 piece (optional)
• Sweet potato mash, 200 grams
• Powdered brown sugar, 40 grams (optional/adjustable)
• Milk, 70 grams (adjust as needed)
• All-purpose flour, 190 grams
• Glutinous rice flour, 40 grams
• Baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon
• Aluminum-free baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon

Instructions:

Mash the sweet potato and mix in the brown sugar (optional), milk, and sieved egg yolk until thoroughly combined. Combine the baking soda (1/4 teaspoon), aluminum-free baking powder (1/4 teaspoon), glutinous rice flour, and all-purpose flour. Mix well. Sift the mixed flours into the sweet potato mash. Knead the ingredients into a slightly moist but non-sticky dough. Roll out the dough into 1-centimeter-thick sheets and cut them in half. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Cut the sheets into 1-centimeter-wide strips. Personally, I feel the bars retain better texture when shaped into long strips, but using cookie molds for different shapes is also an option. Bake on both upper and lower heat settings at 180 degrees Celsius for 20-25 minutes. The image shows the result after baking for 12 minutes. A cross-section after 20 minutes of baking reveals a soft texture, reminiscent of breadsticks, indicating they are ready. For a chewier or slightly firmer texture, reduce the oven temperature to 150 degrees Celsius after 20 minutes and bake for an additional 5-7 minutes, ensuring not to overbake. Tips:

• Due to the absence of oil, these bars don’t have a crispy texture.
• The moisture content of sweet potato mash and the flour’s water absorption varies, so precise adherence to the recipe might not yield consistent results. Instead, use tactile sensation to adjust the dough’s state.
• Glutinous rice flour and all-purpose flour can be exchanged with an equal amount of low-gluten flour.
• As sweet potatoes have natural sweetness, adjusting sugar quantity is a personal preference.