Mardi Gras King Cake French Fries Recipe From 'Glazed & Confused'
Every week, we’re spotlighting a different food blogger who’s shaking up the blogosphere with tempting recipes and knockout photography. Here, Graham Blackall of Glazed & Confused knocks our socks off with a totally bonkers, King Cake-inspired French fry dish.
Photo: Graham Blackall
King Cake Fries
Serves 2 to 4
Blogosphere, meet king cake fries.
In my quest to create the closest thing possible to dessert poutine, I made this absolute showstopper of a dessert, chock-full of vitamin A. Imagine a steaming hot pile of cinnamon-sugar-dusted sweet potato fries covered in a brown butter cream cheese glaze, praline sauce, toasted pecans, and hella sparkly sanding sugar. If that isn’t heaven to you, that’s okay. More fries for me!
3 large sweet potatoes, washed and peeled
Cornstarch, for dusting
2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
Brown Butter Cream Cheese Glaze (recipe below)
Praline Sauce (recipe below)
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
Purple, green, and gold sanding sugar
Preheat oven to 400° F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
With an extra sharp knife — because it’s absolutely miserable to cut with a dull knife — slice the washed and peeled sweet potatoes into halves, then quarters, then individual slices. Desired thickness should be somewhere around 1/4-inch thick.
Once sliced, toss the potatoes in a dusting of cornstarch. Remove all excess powder and toss potatoes in the melted coconut oil, making sure to coat each fry thoroughly. In a small bowl, mix together the cinnamon and sugar, setting aside 3 tablespoons of the mixture for later. Add the cinnamon sugar (not the 3 tablespoons!) and toss to coat. Divide the coated fries evenly among the two baking sheets.
Bake the sweet potato fries for 18 minutes on one side, flip them, and then bake for another 15 minutes. Once done, you can remove them or let them cool slightly in the oven for 20-30 minutes for extra crispiness. Coat the warm fries in the remaining cinnamon sugar mixture.
Pile the warm fries onto a serving plate and drizzle with brown butter cream cheese glaze and praline sauce. Top with toasted pecans and purple, green, and gold sanding sugars. Serve immediately, turn on Mambo No. 5, and share with your most loved ones — these are extra special.
Brown Butter Cream Cheese Glaze
Makes 1 1/2 cups
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla bean paste* or extract
3-5 tablespoons milk
In a small sauce pan, heat the butter over medium-high heat. Once melted, continue to cook the butter until brown flecks form at the bottom of the pan and the butter begins to smell nutty.
In a medium-sized bowl, pour the brown butter over the cream cheese and whisk together until smooth. Once fully combined, sift in the confectioners’ sugar. Mix in the vanilla and milk until it reaches the consistency you prefer.
Praline Sauce
Makes 1 cup
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 1/2 tsp. heavy whipping cream
1/8 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla bean paste or extract
In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the brown sugar, butter, heavy cream, and sea salt. After the butter melts and mixture becomes homogenous, let the mixture cook for about 5 minutes. It will bubble and thicken pretty significantly during this step. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
More recipes to do Mardi Gras proud:
A tried-and-true recipe for traditional king cake
Have you ever tried king cake? Are you a fan?
