Sweet Potato Casserole

Thanksgiving

thanks·giv·ing

/THaNGksˈɡiviNG/

  •noun

American holiday spent with family and friends, wearing fat pants, and eating your bodyweight in green bean casserole.

Hello friends! I come to you again, hopefully bearing the gift of an awesome holiday treat. If you don’t get insanely spirited about the holidays, I don’t think this friendship can continue; I’m sorry but you can’t sit with us. You think I’m kidding…I’m not. From months October-December I am in full on holiday zone. Halloween decorations, parties, costumes. The day after Halloween my Thanksgiving stuff goes up and I start planning dishes to make for friendsgivings and family gatherings; same for Christmas. As someone who thinks about food more than she thinks about anything else I have no shame in saying I think I like Thanksgiving more than Christmas. I mean HELLO PEOPLE, ever tasted a casserole before?!

I am a very strong believer in casseroles; very strong. Why do we wait all year, for Thanksgiving, to cook casseroles? Sometimes a girl just wants some sweet potato casserole on a Tuesday night in April while she watches reruns of Keeping up with the Kardashians; is that to much to ask for? Not to worry however, it really isn’t to much to ask for with this super easy recipe! It’s so easy I am almost certain you can get most if not all the ingredients at your local Walgreens, or something similar to, if the grocery store is a bit out of the way.

 I was going to a friendsgiving with all of my closest friends and I was trying to decide what I could make that everyone would like but also wouldn’t take hours to prepare because I had class all day and knew I didn’t have a ton of time. My mom usually makes Tyler Florence’s stuffed sweet potatoes, which I absolutely love, and I had asked her to send me the recipe because they are usually a huge hit at our families Thanksgiving. However, I knew that there was going to be quite a few people coming so I decided to ditch the individual potatoes and just make a casserole but with his toppings because that is what I love most about the recipe. The casserole is super easy to assemble and it doesn’t require much more than the ability to boil potatoes and use a measuring cup.

• Servings: 8-10
• Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Ingredients

• 3 medium-large sweet potatoes
• 2/3 cups of sugar
• 1/2 cup (one stick) of softened unsalted butter
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1/3 cup of milk

Topping 

• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 1/3 cup of softened butter
• 1/2 cup of flour
• 1 cup of chopped pecans
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup of mini marshmallows

Instructions 

First order of business is peeling and cubing about 3 medium-large sweet potatoes. While you are working on that, set up your pot of water and get that boiling; no need to add any salt or oil like you might do when boiling regular potatoes. Once your water is at a roaring boil, gently drop in your cubed potatoes and stir, letting those cook for about 15-20 minutes or until you are able to easily mash with a spoon. Once cooked, drain water and replace the potatoes in a large mixing bowl, where you will add your sugar, milk, lightly beaten eggs, vanilla, and softened butter. Mix all your ingredients together, just like if you were making regular mashed potatoes but the consistency of the sweet potatoes will be much thinner and not as fluffy as what you might be used to from mash. Set that to the side while you make the casserole topping.

In another bowl, mix together brown sugar, flour, and softened butter until it looks crumbly; I usually like to use my hands to mix it because I find it easier to work with the butter and make it look crumbly that way. Then add cinnamon, salt, pecans, and marshmallows and fold into the streusel mixture. You can use a casserole dish or, like I did, use one of those disposable aluminum pans from the store; mine was a 9×9 and it fit perfectly. Poor mashed sweet potatoes in to oiled pan and top with the streusel. Cook it at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes, covering it with foil for the first 15 minutes to ensure that your marshmallows don’t get all burnt and crunchy. You can enjoy it warm or let it cool for a bit before hand!