How My Mom Saved The Sweet Potato Casserole

by Jen L.

Sweet potato casserole is a must on Thanksgiving. My mom's recipe is the best I've ever had.  One year, my grandma assigned it to someone else. The result was TRAGIC -- stringy canned yams and burned marshmallows. I hosted my own Thanksgiving dinner this year and it wouldn't have been complete without that casserole. I mixed the ingredients together on Thanksgiving Eve and OH NO! To my horror, the potato mixture, which should be the consistency of mashed potatoes, was thin like soup. I stared at it for a few minutes, then called my mom for help.

Her suggestion? Add a can of pumpkin. It worked PERFECTLY to thicken the casserole and  tasted fantastic. In fact, I may use a can from now on to cut the sweetness a bit. My (almost) fatal error was this: I bought sweet potatoes that were too small to make enough filling. 

Check out my mom's awesome recipe below. It's great any time, but particularly around the holidays. If you want it to taste like mine did on Thanksgiving, only use about 1 1/2 cups of sweet potatoes and 1-15 oz. can of pumpkin.

SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE

• 3 cups cooked mashed sweet potatoes, either peeled and boiled, or baked in skins and then peeled (easiest)
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping:

• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons margarine
• 1 cup chopped pecans

In a medium bowl, mix the sweet potatoes, sugar, eggs, milk, margarine, flavoring, and salt until well blended. Transfer to a 1 1/2 quart casserole.

 

Mix all of the topping ingredients and spoon on top of the potato mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.