Thanksgiving Classics--Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Praline Topping

This is not your typical Thanksgiving-day-yams-with-marshmallow-topping sweet potatoes, this dish has a yummy topping made with brown sugar, pecans, and butter that melts together into a praline flavored crust on top of soft and sweet mashed sweet potato souffle.

Ingredients:

• 3 c mashed cooked sweet potatoes
• 1 c sugar
• 1/2 c melted butter or margarine
• 2 eggs
• 1 t vanilla

If you're using canned sweet potatoes/yams, drain and mash. If using fresh sweet potatoes, bake these ahead of time, then scoop out the insides. (I used to make these with drained, canned sweet potatoes, and thought they were great--until I has some leftover baked sweet potatoes and used them instead. Now I use canned only in case of emergency!) Add the sugar and melted butter. Beat eggs separately, and add after the butter has cooled a little. Add vanilla, and beat with mixer until ingredients are well blended. You will probably still have some lumps, unless you run it through a food processor. You can also mix by hand, but the batter will not be as smooth. Pour this into a greased or cooking-sprayed 8 x 8 pan or equivalent casserole dish.


In a separate bowl, mix together :

• 3/4 c chopped pecans
• 1/4 c flour
• 1/2 c brown sugar
• 2-3 T melted butter or margarine

Mix together the nuts and flour, then add the brown sugar and stir together. Add the melted butter last, and stir until everything is moistened. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the sweet potatoes.

If I use finely chopped pecans, or for special occasions when I want the finished product to look especially pretty, I add extra pecan halves on top. There's something that happens when I add the pecan halves on top that's more than the sum of the separate ingredients--the nuts take on a completely different taste, with a smoky, roasted flavor, which combines with the brown sugar and butter to a make a candied pecan taste that is out of this world.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, (longer if you make this ahead and refrigerate overnight) or until topping is melted together and browning on the edges.

This makes the best sweet potatoes--the perfect side dish that's also good enough to eat for dessert!

Until next time, good cooking, and good eating!

This post is linked to:

In and Out of the Kitchen at Feeding Big
You're Gonna Love It Tuesday at Kathe with an E
PINcentive Blog Hop at Cropped Stories

Sugar-Free Sunday--Sugar-Free Sweet Potato Casserole





 I've been really working on getting my family (and myself) to eat more vegetables lately. I've been trying some new things, like oven-roasted brussels sprouts, and revamping some old favorites.

 We had baked sweet potatoes not long ago, and I got the bright idea to do a healthier version of a holiday favorite, sweet potato casserole with pecan praline topping. The regular version is loaded with sugar, from the canned sweet potatoes/yams at the start, to additional sugar added, to the sugar in the topping. In my original post of this recipe, I called it "Sweet Potatoes You Can Eat for Dessert"--it's just that sweet and gooey, and I have family members who actually do it eat it for dessert.

  

 Sugar-Free Sweet Potato Casserole

Ingredients:

• 3 large sweet potatoes
• cooking oil of your choice
• 1/2 c Splenda, or equivalent non-sugar sweetener
• 1/2-3/4 stick of butter
• 1/2-1 t cinnamon
• chopped pecans

Rub the outside of the sweet potatoes with oil, place on a baking sheet, and bake at 350 for around an hour, or until they're fork tender. Allow to cool enough to handle, and pull the skins off. You may want to slice through the ends, but the rest of the skin should just slide right off. Mash the baked sweet potatoes, and add Splenda, butter, and cinnamon. If your potatoes are cold, melt the butter--mine were still warm, so I just chunked up the butter and threw it in the bowl, and it melted as I mashed and mixed. Put into a 8x8 pan, slightly greased on the sides or sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle with slightly chopped pecans. Bake at 350 for around 20 minutes, or until the pecans are beginning to brown. 

I thought I had over cooked these, the nuts were getting very browned. Without the familiar brown sugar and butter mix, I wasn't really sure what to look for, but they tasted fine. (I actually forgot the cinnamon in these, so we just added a dash of cinnamon to our serving on our plate, then just stirred it in slightly. Still tasty).

My family decided they liked the sugar-free version better than the regular one for everyday eating. My son said it tasted like it should be eaten with the meal, and not afterwards.

I liked the healthier version in several ways. I usually use canned sweet potatoes/yams during the holidays. Because they're already cooked with a sugar syrup, although I drain it off, it can be hard to regulate the sweetness. And while I never thought that you'd hear me say it, you can have too much sugar in a recipe. It also seems to me that the last several times I've made my regular version, the sweet potatoes have been mushier, and there's definitely a higher proportion of sugary juice to potatoes in the cans--as a result, sometimes I have trouble getting the middle to set without over browning the top--I usually have to cover it with foil at some point to keep the topping from burning.

Conclusion: As long as my son and I are working on reducing sugar in our diets, I'll be making this version for our everyday meals--and when it's holiday time, although I'll probably go back to my regular version on special occasions, I'll bake my own sweet potatoes and go from there instead of using the canned.

Do you have a sugar free recipe to share? Be sure to link up with the linky tools below!

Until next time, good cooking, and good eating!

Fall Favorites--Sweet Potato Souffle with Pecan Praline Topping

With Thanksgiving here in ten days, I though I'd share my favorite sweet potato casserole recipe. This is not your typical Thanksgiving-day-yams-with-marshmallow-topping sweet potatoes, this dish has a yummy topping made with brown sugar, pecans, and butter that melts together into a praline flavored crust on top of soft and sweet mashed sweet potato souffle.

Ingredients:

• 6 c mashed sweet potatoes
• 2 c sugar
• 1 c melted butter or margarine
• 4 eggs
• 2 t vanilla

If you're using canned sweet potatoes/yams, drain and mash. If using fresh sweet potatoes, bake these ahead of time, then scoop out the insides. Add the sugar & melted butter. Beat eggs separately, and add after the butter has cooled a little. Add vanilla, and beat with mixer until ingredients are well blended. You will probably still have some lumps, unless you run it through a food processor. You can also mix by hand, but the batter will not be as smooth. Pour this into a greased or cooking-sprayed 9 x 13 pan or equivalent casserole dish.
(Note: the pictures below are a half recipe)

In a separate bowl, mix together :

• 1 c chopped pecans
• 1/2 c flour
• 1 c brown sugar
• 5-6 T melted butter or margarine

Mix together the nuts & flour, then add the brown sugar and stir together. Add the melted butter last, and stir until everything is moistened. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the sweet potatoes.
If I use especially fine chopped pecans, or for special occasions when I want the finished product to look especially pretty, I add extra pecan halves on top.

Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes, (longer if you make this ahead and refrigerate overnight) or until topping is melted together and browning on the edges.
There's something that happens when I add the pecan halves on top that's more than the sum of the separate ingredients--the nuts take on a completely different taste, with a smoky, roasted flavor, which combines with the brown sugar and butter to a make a candied pecan taste that is out of this world.
My husband loves this so much, he eats it as a side dish with his meal, and then usually gets more for dessert. I think it would make a wonderful pie--I keep telling myself that someday I'll try it that way, but it's so good just as it is that I can't bring myself to change it up!

This recipe is linked to:

Meatless Monday at My Sweet and Savory
This Week's Cravings at From My Tiny Kitchen
Mouthwatering Monday at A Southern Fairytale
Tuesday Night Supper Club at Fudge Ripple
Tuesdays at the Table at All the Small Stuff
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace
Pantry Recipe Swap at Home and Pantry
What's Cooking Wednesday at the King's Court IV
Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life as Mom

Until next time, good cooking, and good eating!

Thanksgiving Favorites

Welcome to my Holiday Food Fest post for this week. Six different bloggers have joined together and are taking turns hosting a Holiday Food Fest recipe swap, to be held Thursdays during November and December. My pumpkin pie post last week fit perfectly into the weekly theme of Thanksgiving Desserts; this week's theme is favorite non-dessert Thanksgiving dishes. I'm recycling two recipes I posted last year--because they're favorites, after all!

First up is Cranberry Relish; made from fresh cranberries and oranges, it's a sweet/tart addition to any holiday meal, and quite a departure from the usual canned jelly-like stuff most of us are used to. It's made in the food processor, and is super easy. The cayenne pepper adds a bite that just compliments the other flavors.

Ingredients:

• 2 large navel oranges
• 1 1/2 lbs fresh cranberries
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1/4 t cayenne pepper
• 2 T minced mint leaves

Cut off the peel and all of the white stuff from the oranges. All you want is the flesh of the orange, no membranes or peel. I do this right over the bowl of my food processor to catch all of the juice. (You might want to save some of the orange peel and make orange zest to use in other recipes. Or make some little curly things to garnish the serving dish. Or not.)

Put everything into the food processor, and chop. Refrigerate until serving, and that's it.

Note: the last time I made this, it was super tart, I think because the cranberries weren't ripe enough, so I added an additional 1/4 c of sugar. Always apply the taste test!

And my next recipe is Sweet Potato Casserole. This is not your typical Thanksgiving-day-yams-with-marshmallow-topping sweet potatoes. This dish has a yummy topping made with brown sugar, pecans, and butter that melts together into a praline flavored crust on top of soft and sweet mashed sweet potato souffle.

Ingredients:

• 6 c mashed sweet potatoes
• 2 c sugar
• 1 c melted butter or margarine
• 4 eggs
• 2 t vanilla

If you're using canned sweet potatoes/yams, drain and mash. If using fresh sweet potatoes, bake these ahead of time, then scoop out the insides. Add the sugar & melted butter. Beat eggs separately, and add after the butter has cooled a little. Add vanilla, and beat with mixer until ingredients are well blended. You will probably still have some lumps, unless you run it through a food processor, that's okay. You can mix by hand, but the batter will not be as smooth. Pour this into a greased or cooking-sprayed 9 x 13 pan or equivalent casserole dish.

(Note: the pictures below are a half recipe)

In a separate bowl, mix together :

• 1 c chopped pecans
• 1/2 c flour
• 1 c brown sugar
• 5-6 T melted butter or margarine

Mix together the nuts & flour, then add the brown sugar and stir together. Add the melted butter last, and stir until everything is moistened. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the sweet potatoes.

If I use especially fine chopped pecans, and for special occasions when I want the finished product to look especially pretty, I add extra pecan halves on top.

Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes, (longer if you make this ahead and refrigerate overnight) or until topping is melted together and browning on the edges.

There's something that happens when I add the pecan halves on top that's more than the sum of the separate ingredients--the nuts take on a completely different taste, with a smoky, roasted flavor, which combines with the brown sugar and butter to a make a candied pecan taste that is out of this world.

This recipe is linked to:

Holiday Food Fest, hosted this week by Tasty Eats at Home

Foodie Friday at Desgins by Gollum

Recipe Swap at the Grocery Cart Challenge

Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life as Mom

Until next time, good cooking, and good eating!

Sweet Potatoes You Can Eat For Dessert

With Thanksgiving here in two days, I though I'd share my favorite sweet potato casserole recipe. No marshmallow topping for me, this has a pecan topping that makes this taste like a sweet-potato/pecan pie without the crust. My husband usually eats this with his meal, and then has it again for dessert.

You can make this the night before and refrigerate it, just make sure you allow for extra baking time to bring it back up to temperature.

• 6 c mashed sweet potatoes


• 2 c sugar


• 1 c melted butter or margarine


• 4 eggs


• 2 t vanilla

If you're using canned sweet potatoes/yams, drain and mash. If using fresh sweet potatoes, bake these ahead of time, then scoop out the insides. Add the sugar & melted butter. Beat eggs separately, and add after the butter has cooled a little. Add vanilla, and beat with mixer until ingredients are well blended. You will probably still have some lumps, unless you run it through a food processor, that's okay. You can mix by hand, but the batter will not be as smooth. Pour this into a greased or cooking-sprayed 9 x 13 pan or equivalent casserole dish.

In a separate bowl, mix together :

• 1 c chopped pecans


• 1/2 c flour


• 1 c brown sugar


• 5-6 T melted butter or margarine

Mix together the nuts & flour, then add the brown sugar and stir together. Add the melted butter last, and stir until everything is moistened.

Sprinkle the topping evenly over the sweet potatoes. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes, (longer if you make this ahead and refrigerate overnight) or until topping is melted together and browning on the edges.

I got this recipe years ago from a co-worker, and this is the sweet potatoes we've made at holidays ever since. I hope you enjoy this as much as we have over the years!

Good cooking, and good eating!

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