Sweet Potato Stuffed Dates Wrapped in Prosciutto

During the holidays a couple of years ago, my brother-in-law, Marty, who is a trained and super talented chef, was making these yummy hors d’oeuvres for us.  I instantly loved them and stood watch beside him to learn how to make them!  On Monday, I had some friends over to watch The Bachelor Finale and thought these would be a great little bite for everyone to enjoy! Here’s what happened:

This is all you need.  3 ingredients!  I love that!  Earlier in the day, I roasted off those two lovely sweet potatoes you see in this picture.  With a preheated oven, set to 350 F, you can put those little lovelies in there and pretty much forget about ’em for the next 30 minutes or so.  It is a good idea to pierce the skin of the sweet potatoes with a fork, so that they won’t burst in the oven.  Also, and even more importantly, put a tray on the bottom rack of your oven to catch any juices that may leak from your sweet potatoes or you will have one big mess to clean up!!

I forgot to take a picture for this next part, but once those sweet potatoes have cooled, cut through the skin and scoop out the flesh.  It should be naturally mashed or mushy as you scoop it out, but just make sure there are no obvious lumps.

Next, you want to slice each date vertically, to create a little pocket and remove the seed that is inside.

This is what you should have after you’re done.  Next, you will add your sweet potato into each date.

This looks really messy, but don’t worry!  You don’t have to be fancy with this part because it will all get covered with the prosciutto. You want to put enough sweet potato that it comes up to the level of the date, but isn’t overflowing. I just used a spoon to do this.

Next is the prosciutto.

You’ll want to slice the prosciutto into strips to wrap around each date.  The strips won’t, and don’t have to, look as good as the one I show in the picture.  If you mess up a strip, just eat it!  Win-win!

Your dates should look similar to this once you’re done wrapping them all.  At this point, you can put some saran wrap over top of them and put them into the fridge until you’re ready to bake them off.  A great make-ahead!

The finished product! You can’t really tell from this picture, but the prosciutto is nicely caramelized on the bottom and everything is heated through.  These were in the oven, at 350 F for about 15 minutes.

Here’s what you need to do:

1 medium sweet potato

12 dates (I used organic medjool dates)

1/2 pound of prosciutto, sliced for wrapping dates

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Roast your sweet potato until tender to the touch, about 30 minutes.  When cool enough to handle, slice it down the center and scoop out the flesh and place into a bowl. Set aside. Cut into each date to remove the seed and create a pocket.  Place a heaping teaspoon, give or take, into each date.  Wrap with a piece of prosciutto and bake in an oven proof pan or baking sheet for 15 minutes.

Enjoy!!