My all-time favorite Thanksgiving side dish, hands down, is
sweet potato casserole. Seriously, I would happily forgo any of the other
traditional dishes and eat an entire plateful of this sinfully yummy goodness. I
came across this recipe a couple of years ago and with a few tweaks and secret
ingredients it has since become my go-to for sweet potatoes—
it’s a sure-fire crowd pleaser! With a half-and-half topper of toasted marshmallow
gooey-ness and a crunchy, sweet nut streusel, this casserole is a must for your Thanksgiving
gathering next week. But, I have to warn you, there probably won’t be any
leftovers. I usually end up with a scraped down dish and maybe one measly spoonful left after I serve this. It’s that good.
Sweet Potato Casserole
Adapted from My
Recipes
Ingredients:
4 ½ pounds sweet potatoes or
yams
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup butter, softened
¼ cup milk
¼ cup orange juice
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
Topping:
1 ¼ cups cornflakes cereal, crushed
¼ cup chopped pecans
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1 ½ cups miniature marshmallows
Preheat your oven to 400° and bake sweet potatoes for
about 45 minutes to 1 hour or until tender. Once finished, let sweet potatoes
cool for about 20 minutes. Once cooled, peel and mash sweet potatoes. Reduce
the oven temperature to 350°.
Using a mixer, beat the mashed sweet potatoes with the sugar,
butter, milk, orange juice (my secret ingredient!), eggs, vanilla, salt,
cinnamon and nutmeg at medium speed until smooth. Spoon the potato mixture into
a greased casserole dish.
For the topping, melt 1 tbsp. butter. In a small bowl, combine the
crushed cornflakes cereal (I put the cereal into a baggie and use a rolling pin
to crush), chopped pecans, melted butter and brown sugar. Sprinkle over the potato mixture in diagonal
rows approximately 2 inches apart. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Remove from
oven and sprinkle the mini marshmallows in the alternate rows between cornflake
mixture and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool, and serve.
Bon appetite!
Spill, what is your favorite Thanksgiving side dish?
