Baked Sweet Potato Latkes

I will make these again, lots, I can tell you now. Before, whenever I made latkes I would fry them in a pan. This changes it all for me. Less hovering over the stove, and you get them finished all at the same time. How did I not know about baked latkes before?

I was encouraged to bring a Sweet Potato dish to the family Easter celebration this year. Requirements: gluten free, meatless, and yummy enough for the "regular old eaters" I wanted to try something new. Some scouting poped up loads of recipes for sweet potato latkes, a few here and there confirming that I could bake them all. I like this one by May Yue and used it as my guide.

I did a test on which oil was better for using on the baking sheet * Olive oil vs. Sunflower Oil. HANDS DOWN - Sunflower Oil won, with a landslide. The latkes on this pan were more crispy, more evenly darkened, and had less stick-factor on the cookie sheet. Use it, be happy! (It is also my favorite oil for making crisp tofo. I should write about that sometime)

BAKED Sweet Potato Latkes

2 Leeks: cut in half lengthwise, sliced thin in half rounds, and sautéed.
1 lb sweet potatoes: peeled, shredded (box grater or food processer)
1 Egg, beaten lightly.
2 Tbs Flour of some sort to bind (1 Tbs AP Gluten Free Bobs red mill + 1 Tbs Sorghum flour)
1/4 tsp. Pink Salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp baking powder
a little bit of fresh ground nutmeg
Sunflower oil - for the pan.

- Cook the leeks.
- Shred the potatoes.
- Pre-heat the oven to 375°

- Mix the leeks with the egg, flour, spices, dry ingredients. Mix well and add the sweet potato shreds to this mixture. Toss it all around until well distributed.

- Grease a cookie sheet liberally with oil **(Sunflower is BEST here, but use what you will.) Drop dolups of sweet potato mixture onto the sheet and flatten thin with a spatula or your hand. They dont spread, so make them the thickness you like in a latke. (photo here---> )

- Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, take out of the oven, Flip with a spatula, return to the oven for 10 minutes.  *** when you go to flip them, it should be when the side straggly pieces are dark brown, the tops look kinda dry, and the undersides have color too.

I love these, they are pretty easy, and make everybody happy. If you wanted to convert to Paleo, I would replace 1 Tbs Coconut Flour instead of the 2 Tbs of GF flour.  let me know how they come out. To be classic, serve them with applesauce. Tho hummus, or guacamole would be equally awesome.