Twice or Thrice Baked Sweet Potatoes

Holy heavens, you CAN’T believe how good these are! Twice baked sweet potatoes is a play on the traditional sweet potato casserole  my family demands every year at Thanksgiving. I call it “Good as Dessert Sweet Potatoes” because it can easily be eaten as dessert. I would never in a million years NOT make these because my family would scream and holler and throw themselves on the floor and have multiple hissy fits! They LOVE the sweet potato casserole! This weekend I decided to make them as individual portions and spoon them back into the potato skins before baking them….I think they turned out rather adorable don’t you?

Start out by putting 5 to 6 medium sized sweet potatoes into the oven to bake.

Rinse them off, prick them with a fork so they won’t explode in the oven, and put them on a baking sheet in a 375º oven for about an hour or until you prick them with a fork and it slides in and out easily. Make sure you line the baking sheet with foil because those holes you pricked? They will allow sweet potato juice of some sort to come oozing out and then it will bubble onto your pan all black and gooey. Not good at all. When they are done, take them out and allow them to cool. You can speed things up the cooling process by putting them on a platter in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes. Cut them down the middle, take a large spoon and scoop out almost all of the sweet orange flesh inside, but leave a little if possible to help form a nice shell to hold the filling. Some of mine came out entirely and they weren’t as pretty later. Spoon all the orange filling into a mixing bowl. Place the shells on the lined baking sheet you already used, because MAN, we don’t want to haul out and mess up another pan right?! Add in one egg, two tablespoons of butter and 1/3 cup of pure maple syrup. Mix with mixer until smooth and creamy. Using the same large spoon, spoon the mixture back into the potato skins. Are you sensing a theme here? Reusing  as many already dirty utensils as possible = NOT as many dishes to do later! And all the cooks of the house, said AMEN. I ended up throwing out 2 or 3 of the potato skin shells because I wanted mine to be good and full. Now in a medium sized mixing bowl, add in 2/3 cup of brown sugar, ¼ cup of flour, 2 tablespoons of butter (melt the butter first, don’t pay attention to my picture!) and ½ cup of chopped pecans. Mix this up really good and then, using your original spoon the THIRD time, spoon the topping over the potatoes, turning the spoon over to press it in good. I used a good spoonful or two on each. Now you could just bake them up just like this….or… If you’re my family, you HAVE to have the mini-marshmallows on top! Carefully press 12-15 mini-marshmallows onto the topping. You can leave a little space in between them as they will puff up when you broil them. Crank up your broiler and literally, and I MEAN LITERALLY PEOPLE….do NOT walk away from the oven for a split second while these are broiling because mine took about 5-10 seconds. I’m not EVEN kidding around. These are absolutely fun and charming to serve for a smaller group of people at Thanksgiving and would be fantastic with my Butter Herb Roasted Turkey Breast or my Turkey Roulades with Apple Cider Gravy. We’ll be making them at other times of the year, like with a pork loin or ham as well.

Need some other ideas for sensational side dishes for Thanksgiving? Just LOOK at other food bloggers take on their favorite holiday side dishes for Thanksgiving in Food Network’s Fall Fest.

Feed Me Phoebe: Swiss Chard Gratin
The Lemon Bowl: Quinoa with Acorn Squash, Apples and Walnuts
Jeanette’s Healthy Living: 16 Clean Eating Thanksgiving Side Dish Recipes
Big Girls, Small Kitchen:
Weelicious: Maple Roast Vegetables
Napa Farmhouse 1885: Easy Mushroom-Chile Risotto
Red or Green: Schezwan Green Beans
Domesticate Me: Sweet Potato Gratin with Pancetta, Parmesan and Sage
Virtually Homemade: Sweet Potato Casserole with Walnuts
Elephants and the Coconut Trees: Purple Potato Salad with Grapefruit Vinaigrette
The Sensitive Epicure: Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Thyme and Rosemary
The Heritage Cook: Maple-Roasted Root Vegetables
Food For My Family: Honey-Roasted Cauliflower with Pine
Dishin & Dishes: Twice baked Sweet Potatoes
Devour: Top In Season Thanksgiving Sides
FN Dish: 10 Seasonal Thanksgiving Sides
Taste With The Eyes: A Fresh California Twist on Brussels Sprouts