Cook: Sweet Potato Casserole

This is my second post on the DIY Christmas Series that a great group of blogging friends and I are doing! Be sure to check out all 30 days of great posts! My good friend Joyce over at The Skinny Pear is the mastermind behind this awesome series to get you ready for Christmas with all things DIY!

Simple, classic, delicious = Sweet Potato Casserole

Sweet potatoes are incredibly healthy for you so this is a healthy side dish to serve at Thanksgiving or Christmas...or, ya know...any time! And yes there may be a lot of sugar in this recipe but there's no need to be afraid of organic, unbleached, raw sugar! Or, your favorite healthy sugar substitute!

The original recipe came from MyRecipes in a list of 70+ Thanksgiving favorites. I tweaked a few of the ingredients though, as usual. 

Classic Sweet Potato Casserole

Ingredients: 

• 4 1/2 pounds of sweet potatoes
• 1 cup raw sugar (I actually used a little less than a whole cup, sweet potatoes provide a lot of sweetness on their own!)
• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups crushed flake cereal (Total or cornflakes)
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1 Tbs brown sugar
• 1 Tbs melted butter
• 1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Wash the sweet potatoes and cut them in half. 

Place them on a baking sheet and bake them for at least an hour. They may need to bake longer. You can test to see if they're ready by sticking a knife in each one. If the knife comes right back out, it's ready but if the potato stays on the knife, it needs more time. 

They'll look dry on the outside where they've been cut. When they're done baking, let them sit and cool for about 20 minutes or so. Drop the oven temperature to 350.

While the sweet potatoes are cooling off, whisk/mix together the sugar, butter, milk, eggs, and vanilla. Mine looks a little funny because the butter wasn't totally soft. No worries if that happens to you, it'll be fine later.

Also while the potatoes are cooling off, prepare the crunchy topping by smashing the flakes until you've got 1 1/2 cups then mix in the pecans and brown sugar. Drizzle the melted butter around it and continue to mix. You can set this aside.

I used Total instead of cornflakes because I wanted whole grains instead of corn. You can use whichever kind you prefer. I doubt it would make much of a difference in the flavor. If someone knows of a better "real food" version, please let me know!

Now that your potatoes have cooled, take them and basically squeeze out the insides into a large bowl. The potato will come out of the skin pretty easily. 

You'll need to peel this part off because it's too hard to mix in well. 

For this step you can either use your electric hand mixer or your stand mixer, or just a good ol' fashioned potato masher. 

Stir in the mixture you made earlier. 

It will seem a little thin but it will be baked again so it will thicken up a bit. If you don't like the way that sounds still, don't add as much milk. 

Pour the sweet potato mixture into a greased casserole dish.  Spread it out evenly and sprinkle the crunchy topping in diagonal lines a couple inches apart. Bake for 30 minutes.

Let it stand for about 10 minutes then sprinkle marshmallows in the empty rows between the crunchy topping rows.

Bake for another 10 minutes or until the edges of the marshmallows begin to brown.

Let it cool and enjoy! I'm sure this will be as big of a hit with your family as it was with mine! 

What's your favorite side dish for holiday dinners? 

Till next time,

Catherine