Thanksgiving is over and many people out there are probably out shopping on this lovely Black Friday. Me..not so much. I have no desire to get a dvd on sale at Target for $9.99 when it will be $12.99 next week. No thank you. I prefer my sleep. Anyway, you're not here for me talking about Black Friday. Your here for Gingersnap Sweet Potatoes! John does not like sweet potatoes so the past few months I've been trying to make sweet potato dishes that I think he may like. A few month ago it was Jalapeno Sweet Potato Soup (trust me, it is HEAVENLY) and now this and I'm happy to report that he loves both! For Thanksgiving I was asked to bring the Sweet Potato Casserole and mashed potatoes. I'm not a fan of sweet potatoes with marshmallows. So when my mom found this recipe a few years ago we fell in love with it. It is so good..you must try it for Christmas. This recipe is from the Southern Living Christmas book from 2003..I think. Don't quote me on the year please.
What I love about this recipe is the gingersnap streusel topping. After baking it it gets really nice and crunchy and is the perfect contrast the smooth and creamy sweet potatoes. When making this dish you must use store-bought gingersnaps. The homemade ones have too much moisture in them and do not yield for a crunchy topping. I use the Nabisco ones in the orange box. They work perfectly.
Usually for the streusel topping I would have used a large Ziploc bag and taken my stress out on the bag, but I was out. The food processor was a bad idea. It made some of the cookies too small, left others the same size as they went in and some did not stand a chance and were turned to powder. Lessons learned right?
Gingersnap Sweet Potatoes
adapted from Southern Living
6 sweet potatoes (4 pounds)
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
½ cup butter, melted
1/3 cup half-and-half
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
¼ cup cold butter, cut into pieces
36 coarsely crushed gingersnap cookies
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
½ cup butter, melted
1/3 cup half-and-half
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
¼ cup cold butter, cut into pieces
36 coarsely crushed gingersnap cookies
Cook sweet potatoes in a large pot in boiling water to cover over medium heat 30 minutes or until tender. Cool; peel and mash potatoes.
Combine mashed sweet potato, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and next 4 ingredients in a mixing bowl; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. (Or mash with a potato masher until smooth.) Spoon into a greased 2 1/2-quart or 13" x 9" baking dish.
Combine 1/2 cup brown sugar and flour. Cut in 1/4 cup cold butter with a pastry blender until crumbly. Stir in crushed gingersnaps. Sprinkle streusel over sweet potato. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 25 minutes or until streusel is lightly browned.
Make Ahead: Prepare sweet potato filling, and spoon into a greased 2 1/2-quart microwave-safe dish. Cover and chill overnight. Microwave at HIGH 10 minutes or until hot. Prepare streusel, and sprinkle over filling. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 20 minutes or until streusel is lightly browned.
1st photo credit here.
Lindsay: I am copying and pasting a bunch of your recipes today so I can try them when I get the urge to experiment (I am having lots of faith here LOL) and when I read your post about not liking sweet potatoes and using this recipe, I felt compelled to tell you there is yet another sweet potato dish out there that my family (both sides) request every holiday, and I am NOT ordinarily a sweet potato fan (yuk on the sweet potato/marshmallow thing, EW). It's a sweet potato souffle and it is easy, you can put it together the day before you bake it, and it is delish. There's a special ingredient that I think makes all the difference in the world in the taste. I will send it to you and you can try it sometime and see if it passes muster with John! :-)
ReplyDeleteNot to mention it's beautiful. The top is a layer of pecan halves and baked with brown sugar and butter poured over the top...makes a beautiful glazy top...mmmmm!! So I guess if you don't like pecans...it won't work for you...unless of course you just scrape off the top since they only cover the top and aren't actually inside.
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