Baked Sweet Potato

My original Christmas sweet potato recipe was perfected over the years. Sweet potatoes are my contribution to Christmas dinner and pot lucks during the year. The recipe is easy and I've done it often enough. I am getting good at preparing sweet potatoes. These sweet potatoes are different from the usual sliced candied yams or sweet potatoes. I whipped the baked sweet potatoes for a twice baked dish.

Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

3-5 lbs. orange or red flesh sweet potatoes

Margarine or butter

¼ cup of dark brown sugar

14oz. can pineapples in juice - crushed or cubed; add juice

14oz. can apple slices packed in water (If you want a sweeter dish, use pie mix.)

10.5 oz. package miniature marshmallows

¼ tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg or apple pie seasoning to taste.

1 tsp. flour or corn starch optional

My Christmas recipe can be made ahead or the potatoes can be baked the day before to save time. Wash potatoes well with a vegetable wash or cold water. Place potatoes directly on oven rack. Bake medium sweet potatoes in the skin at 350°. Protect your oven with foil on the rack below. As the potatoes bake, they will become sugary and the juice may drip. When potatoes are soft, and cooked, remove from the oven and let cool. Note: the sweet potatoes seem sweeter when baked in the skin. They develop their own syrup. If possible bake don't boil sweet potatoes for this recipe.

In a large mixing bowl, combine butter or margarine and sugar. Peel potatoes and add to bowl. Mix well. Add desired seasonings. Add pineapples and apple slice until all ingredients are well blended. Spray a baking dish with non-stick spray. Add the potato mixture. I use a hand mixer to blend. Potatoes are soft and easy to mash. Add 1/2 marshmallows package to bowl and continue to blend. Correct taste, sweetness. If potatoes seem too loss, too much liquid, add 1 tsp. spoon of flour/cornstarch. Bake at 350° until potatoes are well heated and marshmallows melt. If you are going to serve potatoes soon, add remainder of marshmallows to top and replace in oven until marshmallows brown. For presentation garnish with a pineapple slice in center of browned marshmallows with a red cherry in center of pineapple slice.

The Christmas leftover potatoes taste great the next day. It stands up to reheating. The dish freezes well. Mandarin oranges and/or mangoes can be substituted for apples and pineapples. 3-5 lbs. of potatoes may sound like a lot, but when the potatoes are whipped, it doesn't seem like a lot. Any extra can be frozen. I now bake about 10-15 lbs. of sweet potatoes. My sister-in-law divides the potatoes "after" I whip them, but before I add my ingredients. She uses her share of the sweet potatoes as the base for her sweet potato pies and biscuits. She likes the sweet potatoes baked better than boiled.