(Upbeat music)
Today I'm going to show you how to make my family's favorite holiday side dish.
It starts with these simple tubers and turn them into a delicious sweet potato casserole.
It's really easy to make let's get started.
I just washed four pounds of sweet potatoes and we want to dry them really well.
And then we're going to wrap the potatoes in foil.
Just grab a piece of foil, like this, and wrap each potato, like wrapping a present.
Try to pick out potatoes that are even in size and thickness so that they cook evenly.
The reason why we wrap the potatoes is it's going to create this barrier to
keep the potatoes moist and provide even cooking.
I'm going to start the potatoes in a cold oven.
It's because there are enzymes that are in the potato that start to heat up.
And they start to convert the starches into a simple sugar called maltose at 135-degrees.
During this process, once the heat elevates to 170 that sugar conversion stops.
So for the sweetest potatoes, we want to keep them in the oven as long as possible.
Place the pan in the center position of a cold oven, heat to 375-degrees.
Then bake for one hour and then flip, continue to bake
until they can be easily pierced in the center with a knife, about 15 to 30 minutes.
Now I'm going to check these for doneness.
Just unwrap the foil a little bit and then when it pierces easily with a knife it's ready.
I'm going to let this cool down a little bit before we make the puree.
Now that the potatoes are cool to the touch, I'm going to peel the skin.
These smell so good I honestly can eat them just like this.
You can just simply peel the skin off like this.
I don't know about you but these are gigantic sweet potatoes.
Then just transfer it to a bowl or you can cut the sweet potato.
Just open it up and then scoop out the flesh.
Okay, now we're going to transfer them into a food processor.
Now if you don't have a food processor you can
also use a blender or if you like a chunkier texture you can use a potato masher.
It's gonna start getting pretty full so just push the potatoes down a little bit.
Okay, we're going to place the lid on and then process on high speed for about 1 minute.
You want the puree to be fairly smooth,
this looks good.
Let's add the seasonings to the food processor.
Add 1 cup heavy cream,
1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg.
I'm going to mix this just a little bit to get the liquids down to the bottom.
Okay place the lid back on and then we'll process this for about 1 to 2 minutes on low speed.
Perfect now let's transfer to a casserole dish.
Okay, we're just gonna put the puree into the casserole dish.
This one is about an 11 by 8 or you can do about a 9 by 9 or something similar an area.
Then just spread it into an even layer.
To give the sweet potato casserole a little bit of contrast I'm going to make a crunchy nut topping.
First thing I'm going to do is roughly chop 1 cup of pecans.
If you're like me and love candied nuts you're going to find the topping so irresistible.
Don't chop up the nuts too fine because you want a nice contrast in texture.
In a medium bowl combine 1 cup chopped pecans, 1 cup crispy rice cereal,
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 2/3 cup brown sugar.
Just stir the dry ingredients together a little bit just to combine it before we add the butter.
Sometimes brown sugar gets compact together because it's very
hygroscopic and picks up moisture.
So just break up the little pieces.
Now the melted butter. I have about a 1/4 cup, and stir it all together.
Okay, let's bring the casserole back over, and then we're going to evenly spread the topping.
Now we're going to add this right on top.
Now I'm going to transfer the casserole to a baking sheet and then bake at 350-degrees
for about 25 to 30 minutes
until the topping is nice and golden brown and bubbly.
This candied crunchy nut topping looks really good
and for some people that might be sweet enough and you could just serve it as is
but my kids love marshmallows on top. So I'm going to just sprinkle 2 cups of mini marshmallows
and it's going to get gooey and roasted sort of like s'mores, so that's why they love it.
I know that this is borderline dessert but it's the holidays so why not.
Okay, just fill in any little spaces,
and then we're going to bake this in the oven at 350-degrees
until the marshmallows are slightly melted and lightly brown on top, about 5 to 10 minutes.
Wow, this looks amazing.
Now if you want to make certain parts of the recipe ahead of time
you can definitely bake the sweet potatoes about three days ahead
and then add the toppings right before you're ready to serve
so they stay nice and crunchy and gooey.
If you'd like you can make this recipe dairy-free by using coconut cream and coconut oil.
This is a pretty decadent side dish so I would definitely suggest
serving it with some fresh greens like this recipe right here.
I hope you enjoyed learning the science behind sweet potato casserole
and if you did please give it a big thumbs up it means a lot when you do.
See you in the next video.