Now, I'm not wild about sweet potatoes- you won't catch me ordering sweet potato fries instead of regular- but I have eaten one sweet potato dish that won me over. A couple years ago, my sister-in-law Stephanie's mother graciously hosted George & I for Thanksgiving dinner with the rest of the family. I tried her sweet potato casserole, and it was amazing. I've been thinking about trying to re-create it since then, but I hadn't given it a try until now. Now, a smart person would just ask Stephanie if her mom could give me the recipe, but I didn't do that. I reviewed all the sweet potato casserole/souffle recipes and decided that I would try out the one that seemed the most standard, but omit the nut topping and replace it with marshmallows like the one I liked.
Ingredients:
3 cups mashed sweet potato (3 to 4 large potatoes)
1/3 cup butter (I used unsalted)
3/4 cup white sugar (cut it to half a cup if you like it less sweet)
1 tsp vanilla extract
cinnamon to taste
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten (or egg beaters)
~1 cup small marshmallows
The original recipe is here if you want to check out the nut topping.
I started by boiling the potatoes for around 23 minutes until a fork stuck in them came out easily.
Once I got them out of the boiling water and let them sit just a little bit, I worked on removing the skin. It's easiest to do it while they're still warm, but be really careful since those suckers are pretty hot coming out of that pot. I actually used a dishwashing glove on one hand to protect from the heat and grip the skin better. (btw, True Blue makes the BEST gloves ever. They are fabric-lined and very sturdy)
The method I had the best success with was to use a regular fork to remove the very tip of both ends (which were a little bit funky anyway) and then run one tine of the fork under the skin for the length of the potato skin like a scalpel. The skin should tear easily and then you can grab the "closed" side and pull the whole thing off.
Once your potatoes are skinless, put them in a large bowl and add the butter and sugar.
Mash the potatoes with the butter and sugar until smooth. Then add the milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and eggs.
I just kept using my masher to combine the wet ingredients as well. Potatoes can't be too silky, in my opinion. Once it's all well combined, put it into an oven-proof casserole dish. A size around 2 quarts should do it.
Next add your marshmallows on top. I made mine cover the whole surface pretty thoroughly, but obviously you can use your own preferred marshmallow density.
Then it's into the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes. You'll want to check on it a few minutes early with a convection oven. Take it out when the marshmallows start to turn golden.. like this!
done!
mmm, marshmallows
The final result was pretty tasty! It might not have been quite as good as the original dish, but butter, cinnamon, and sugar definitely succeeded in making something palatable that I would rather not eat.
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