Praline Sweet Potatoes

This is one of my make ahead dishes....


This  is what it looks like before going into the oven ( I have to admit in the midst of getting everything on the table I forgot to photograph the melted sugar goodness of the hot dish)




Ingredients: canned yams or sweet potatoes (you can use fresh if feel like peeling, boiling and mashing), butter, brown sugar, eggs, an orange, ginger, salt and pecans and cinnamon (not pictured.) 

Continued after the jump....




Step one: Drain the yams



Cream the yams until smooth using the paddle attachement of your stand mixer.  (I am sure you could use one of those hand held things with the beaters too.)





Zest the orange.  It is important to do this before cutting and juicing.  Trust me on this, I am ashamed to admit I had to learn this one the hard way.  It was a long time ago.  I was young and inexperienced.






Cut the orange in half and juice it.  This old fashioned juicer only costs about $4 or $5.




Pour in the juice.




Melt the butter in the microwave and add that too. 




Next add the eggs.




and the ginger.  (the recipe calls for powdered.  I had a fresh ginger root in the fridge, but I was not sure what the conversion would be.  If you try fresh let me know how it turns out.)



Add the salt.  This is a sweet dish, but we all know how flat foods can be without salt.  That actually reminds me of a version of Cinderella that I read as a child.......


sorry, I got off track there for a moment.  Add the brown sugar, and.....




Beat the whole thing until nice and smooth.  Is this easy so far or what?





Next, just spray a 9 x 13ish sized casserole dish with Pam.  (I love this oval one, I got it in a set a Costco a few years ago.  This is my official Praline Sweet Potatoes dish) and pour the golden mash in.  Be sure to spread it out nice and smooth.

Now for the really decadant part, the topping.....




Chop the pecans.  (I am personally not a big fan of pecans, but they are what makes the topping praline rather than just brown sugar and butter.)





Put the brown sugar and the cold butter cut into small pieces into a bowl.




Add cinnamon.





cut these ingredients together with a pasty cutter like you would a pie crust.  Then stir in the pecans.




Spread the topping over the sweet potatoes.




At this point you would either bake it in a 350 degree oven until hot a bubbly (about 45 minutes.) or if you are making this a day or two ahead (which I highly recommend) you just cover with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge and then just do the baking about an hour before you plan to eat. 


The remains.  Everyone who tried this loved it.  I hated yams/sweet potatoes before I tried this one.  It will make you a convert.

Praline Sweet Potatoes


Recipe By : Mary Craft

Serves 24 (original recipe says serves 12 but that would be a really large serving)



5 pounds canned yams or sweet potatoes -- drained

2/3 cup orange juice

1 tablespoon orange zest -- optional

2 teaspoons salt

pepper -- to taste

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 cup butter -- melted

1/3 cup brown sugar

3 eggs

TOPPING:

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 pound butter (1/2 stick)

1 cup chopped pecans

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon


In an electric mixer, beat yams until smooth. Mix in remaining ingredients until light and fluffy. butter a 2 quart casserole dish and pour in yam mixture. Mix all the praline topping ingredients together and spread evenly over the yams.


May be refrigerated for two days.


Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes until golden and bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.