Sweet Potato Casserole [Cooking]

My partner loves sweet potatoes. No lie, she will gladly eat them in pretty much anything, any combination, any form or shape.

Sweet potato ice cream? She’s on it. Sweet potato fries? Absolutely. Sweet potato mashed with parsnips and used as a topping for cottage pie? She’ll want a second helping. And possibly a third.

So for Thanksgiving this year, I decided to do something different and make a sweet potato casserole. Oddly enough, I’ve never made one. I guess because it’s one of those standard dishes during the fall and winter holidays and I tend to avoid those sorts of recipes.

Of course, I had to do something different with the recipe. You see, she also loves coconut and I thought it might be interesting to combine the two and see what happens.

After scouring the cooking blogs and websites for ideas, I ended up doing what I usually do, which is take a little from several different recipes and add my own touches. A little mad science in the kitchen.

Here’s what I came up with, and as you can see from the photos, it turned out quite nice. There’s a wonderful contrast between the soft, fluffy sweet potatoes and the crispy, crunchy crust on top. Best part? No damn marshmallows!

– 3 1/2 cups of cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
– 1/4 cup of milk (or milk substitute)
– 1/4 cup of brown sugar
– 3 TB of butter, melted
– 1 egg
– 1 tsp of vanilla
– 1/2 tsp of salt
– 1/2 tsp of cinnamon

Topping:

– 1/2 cup of brown sugar
– 1/2 cup of chopped pecans
– 1/2 cup of shredded coconut
– 3 TB of coconut flour
– 3 TB of butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the first eight ingredients and use a hand mixer to whip them together. You should end up with a fluffy mixture. Transfer to a greased/oiled 9 inch by 9 inch baking dish (or similar size).

Next, combine all the topping ingredients into another bowl and stir to combine. Then, add it evenly to the top of the sweet potato mix.

Bake uncovered for about 30 – 35 minutes.

I don’t think the leftovers are going to last very long, but I take that as a compliment. Hope you give this recipe a try and, if you do, please let me know how it turns out.

RB