I just couldn’t resist one more sweet potato recipe this fall! This one is a family favorite, and since I’m southern, it features butter and sugar. But what doesn’t feature butter and sugar during Thanksgiving time? If you’ve never liked sweet potato casseroles, give this one a try. It’s a game changer.
The humble garnet sweet potato
3 cups cooked garnet sweet potatoes
1/2 cup half & half
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup melted butter
Topping
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup self-rising flour
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup chopped pecans
Peel, chop, and boil sweet potatoes until tender and let them cool until just warm. While they’re cooling, add all the ingredients for the topping to a food processor and process just until mixed. Set this mixture aside in a bowl. Now, dump your cooked, cooled potato chunks into the food processor and process until smooth. Add the half & half, vanilla, sugar, eggs, and butter and process just until mixed. Turn this mixture out into a buttered 8×8 pan or 2qt. casserole dish. Sprinkle on the topping and bak at 350F for 30 minutes. Be sure your pan is deep enough to allow at least 1/2 inch of room at the top because the topping will puff up a bit.
Notes: This recipe has been adapted from the original recipe by reducing the butter and sugar by half, so you’re already looking at the low-sugar, low-fat version. For Thanksgiving, we generally double the topping mixture (because that’s our favorite part). We also vary the sweet potato mixture by adding a teaspoon of cinnamon, occasionally. The recipe is fairly flexible, so have fun playing with it. You could substitute olive oil for the butter, agave syrup or honey for the sugar, and soy milk for the half & half, but the self-rising flour is a must.
