Maple Butter Pecans

1. Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium heat.
2. Mix in the maple syrup and add the pecan pieces.
3. Stirring constantly, cook the pecans for approximately 10 minutes or until the maple-butter glaze boils and thickens. (Be careful not to cook them too long so that the pecans don’t burn.)
4. Let the glazed pecan pieces cool completely.

Sweet Potato Ice Cream

1. In a large saucepan, beat the eggs, milk and sugar until well blended.
2. Cook the egg mixture over low heat for roughly 10 minutes, stirring constantly, until thickened. It should smoothly coat the back of a wooden spoon.
3. Whisk in the mashed sweet potato, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger powder, adjusting the spice to taste if desired.
4. Let the mixture cool.
5. Add the heavy cream and the vanilla.
6. Stir until blended and refrigerate the mixture until it is completely chilled, for several hours or up to overnight.
7. Stir in the maple pecans and then churn the ice cream.
8. Following the instructions of your ice cream maker, pour the chilled mixture into your machine and stir it until the ice cream forms. It will typically be more like soft-serve when you first make it. If you want firmer ice cream, transfer it to a sealed container once it reaches the soft-serve consistency and let it freeze for several hours until it hardens.
9. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, pour the ice cream mixture into a glass baking dish and place it in the freezer.
10. Stir it vigorously with a hand-held mixer or a whisk every 30-40 minutes to break up the ice chunks and keep it creamy.
11. Once it reaches your desired consistency, transfer it to a sealed container and store it in the freezer.