Hasselback Sweet Potatoes with Cinnamon and Brown Sugar

The Preferred Baked Potato of the Swedes

Hasselback…not Hasselhoff.  The potato dish was not named after the former Knight Rider turned Baywatch life guard heartthrob. This method of preparing potatoes gets its name from a Swedish restaurant called Hasselbacken in Stockholm,  where it was first served.  It is a simple dish prepared with the simplest of ingredients; a whole potato sliced down its length and then brushed with butter before roasting. The result is a baked potato unlike any other; a crispy accordion of starchy goodness with a soft and creamy middle.

This a fun way to dress up a plain baked potato. I made Hasselback Sweet Potatoes brushed with butter, cinnamon and brown sugar. This is the way my family prefers to eat sweet potatoes; they like their sweet potatoes to taste like pie. Since my Sweet Potato Bread with Brown Sugar Glaze was a hit, I decided to transfer that taste to Hasselback potato.

You can season your potato  with a myriad of flavors.  If you are not a butter fan (who’s not a butter fan?), you use olive oil flavored with you choice of spices.  If you prefer not to use a sweet potatoes, Russets and Yukon Golds  are good potatoes to use for Hasselbacks. No matter what type of potato you chose to use for your Hasselback, the steps to prepping the potato is the same.

 

What you’ll need:

• A potato (longer ones work better)
• A sharp knife
• Chopsticks or butter knife
• Oil or melted butter
• Your choose of seasonings
• A pastry brush or spoon

Step 1

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Wash and scrub your potato. Lay the potato on a cutting board and line up the chopsticks or butter knife on either side of the potato. The sole purpose of the chopsticks/butter knife is to act as a guard so you do not accidentally cut through the potato. In order to get the accordion/fan effect, you slice 90% through the potato, but not all the way.

Step 2

Make the slices every 1/8 inch. You can put the sliced potato in a bowl of ice water to help the potato fans to open more. When you have sliced all the potatoes you going to roast, put them on a cookie sheet or shallow roasting pan.

Step 3

This is the fun part! Take your melted, seasoned butter and brush liberally all over your potato. Try to get in between the slices (be gentle). The more buttery goodness you get in every nook and cranny means more crispy yumminess. Roast in a preheated 375 degree oven for about 45 minutes until crispy, golden brown.

I find that sweet potatoes do not get as crispy and fan out as well as Russets or Yukon Golds. Nonetheless, they did taste like pie 🙂