Maple Hazelnut Whipped Honey and Sweet Potatoes

I am so excited to say I learned a lesson after Thanksgiving last year.  I had made sweet potatoes, like I always do, for Thanksgiving and we had leftovers.  So, one day I took some of Honeyville’s maple hazelnut whipped honey and drizzled it on top and oh man was I sad I had not done this before.  The little bits of the hazelnuts, mixing with the sweet potato, and a hint of honey made it so tasty. I am absolutely going to have this on the Thanksgiving table this year.  This time I adding crushed pecans and am really excited to see how they turn out.  I hope you enjoy this on your Thanksgiving table this year!

Ingredients:

3 medium sweet potatoes

¼ cup butter

½ cup of Honeyville’s maple hazelnut whipped honey

1 Tbsp. Ceylon cinnamon

½ cup crushed pecans

Directions:

Heat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Wash the sweet potatoes and then pat them dry.  Take a fork and gently poke holes into the sweet potatoes.  Wrap with foil and place in the oven.  Bake for about 60 minutes.  With an oven mitt on; give the sweet potatoes a squeeze.  If they are soft, they are done; if they are firm let them cook a few more minutes or take them out if you prefer more firmness.

When they are done to your liking; put an oven mitt on and pull the sweet potatoes out of the oven.  Place them on the counter to cool; you want them to be warm, but not hot when you are working with them.

After about 10-15 minutes take off the foil surrounding the sweet potato and start to peel back the skin.  Put the peeled sweet potatoes into a bowl. 

Mash the sweet potatoes with a masher or a spoon. 

Add the butter, honey, and Ceylon cinnamon.  Give the sweet potatoes a good stir making sure everything is mixed together. 

Dish the sweet potatoes into a serving bowl and sprinkle with the crushed pecans. 

ENJOY!

Tips:

-Try this recipe with the cinnamon whipped honey or winter spice

-Use walnuts instead of pecans

-Sprinkle a few marshmallows on top before serving

Buzzing by from,

Bee Queen’s Kitchen

What Is Bee Pollen?

Have you ever heard of Bee Pollen?

At The Honey Cottage we have had an increase in customers coming in and asking questions on bee pollen.  Either they came upon this fascinating product because of friends and family recommending it or they found it by doing research for natural allergy relief.  Whatever the reason you find out about bee pollen, we are happy to show you this exciting beehive product. 

Many people do not realize how much we really need bees to help us eat food everyday.  Bees pollinate the flowers that we use for teas and essential oils. Bees pollinate the flowers that produce the seeds that we use for the next season of crops.  Bees pollinate the fruit and vegetables flowers that turn into food we eat.  Without bees we would not get enough food to feed people.  Bees are able to carry enough pollen, from flower to flower, to visit approximately 5,000 flowers.  Bees are able to pollinate more flowers than humans could in a day.

Bees not only spread flower pollen and collect nectar; they also make bee pollen.  The bees that leave the hive to collect nectar and pollen are called field bees.  When a field bee goes from flower to flower, they do their normal work of collecting the nectar from flowers.  They also take the flower pollen, mix it with the bee spit, make it into a ball, and place it in their pollen baskets on their back legs.  Once their honey stomach is full of nectar, they fly back to the beehive.  Once at the hive, the field bees will transfer the nectar to the worker bees.  A few of the other worker bees will clean the pollen off of the field bees to get them back out faster.  The worker bees then take the bee pollen and put it into the cells.  Some of the pollen is mixed with honey to make bee bread.   

Stay tuned for “How do I take bee pollen?”

From Our Hive to Yours,

Bee Queen