Holly's Sweet Potato Casserole

As it's about to be Thanksgiving, I thought I'd post the sweet potato casserole I tried out a few weeks ago. We had a (slightly freezer-burned) wild turkey from my parents in the freezer that REALLY needed to be cooked, so we decided to have a small Thanksgiving with roasted turkey, sweet potatoes and green beans. I really generally don't like sweet potatoes (and if you know me personally, you know that I LOVE LOVE sweet things and this is a bit out of character), but the boyfriend loves them and I know they're good for me so I decided to try my hand at making a delicious sweet potato casserole.

It had a nice tasty crumble topping (which was my favorite part and probably the only reason I kept eating several servings for days). All in all, it was definitely tasty and I would definitely make it again (and enjoy it!). Sorry about the crappy cell phone picture.

Also, anyone who clicks through for the recipe will get to see a super cute picture of me that proves once a cook, always a cook!


3 large sweet potatoes
1/4 cup (1/2 stick, 4 T) butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, brought to room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped pecans
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 400 F. Place sweet potatoes on a baking sheet and bake about 45-50 minutes, until tender. Let cool until easy to handle, but leave the oven on. In the meantime, mix together oatmeal, butter, brown sugar, pecans and salt to form the crumble topping.

Once the sweet potatoes are cool enough to handle, halve them lengthwise and scoop out the flesh into a large bowl. Add in butter, orange juice and remaining brown sugar and stir together (I used my awesome amazing KitchenAid 90th Anniversary mixer that I bought for myself for my birthday and I love it). Fold in the remaining chopped pecans. Spread the sweet potato mixture into a buttered or greased 8" x 12" baking dish and spread the crumble on top. Bake the casserole for about 40 minutes, or until the topping is a nice crispy golden brown. Serve hot or cold, and enjoy!

Edit: I can't believe I left out the pecans when I first posted this! I did include pecans both within the puree and in the topping. It gave it a really nice crunch, which really perked up the texture for me.

Recipe adapted from Sweet Potato Puree with Streusel Topping over at Epicurious, which also has instructions on another variation as well as do-ahead directions. Basically, make the topping and the puree separately and store, covered, in the refrigerator for up to a day in advance. Let come to room temperature, combine, and bake. Alternatively, prepare the whole dish including the final bake and refrigerate, covered, for up to 1 day in advance. Again, let come to room temperature and bake for 25 minutes, loosely covered with foil.

And now, for those who clicked through just to see the cute picture, get a load of The Tart, circa 5 years old, making Sunday morning pancakes (or perhaps waffles; Dad I and alternated between pancakes, waffles and French toast every Sunday morning. I learned fractions by cooking Sunday breakfast with my dad :) )