Thanksgiving Sweet Potatoes

[persephone33]

For all you Americans, Thanksgiving is coming up, and I thought I'd share my family's quintessential Thanksgiving fare, the pan of sweet potatoes.  Yams, if you will.  Do I know the difference?  Erm... Yams are yellow, I think, and sweet potatoes are orange.  Or something.  This recipe came from my sweet MIL Lanell, who is a fantastic cook.  And these are less of what you'd call a vegetable, and more of a little party in your mouth, as I think the amount of sugar negates all nutritional value.  :)  But it's Thanksgiving!  Who's looking to be healthy?

Persephone's Candied Sweet Potatoes

4-6 large sweet potatoes, cooked whole and  cooled
3/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. butter
1/2 tsp salt
8 oz of Dr. Pepper
1 bag mini marshmallows

Cast of Characters:

That's sugar in that blue cannister; and those are the potatoes already boiled, drained and cooled, thus the gunk in the pot.  :)


Cook potatoes 25 minutes or til tender.  Peel sweet potatoes; if you boil them with their jackets on, the peel comes right off.  


Cut into quarters and place in baking dish.


Combine the next four ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Let it boil for about 10 minutes.

Can we talk about Dr. Pepper for a moment?  I cannot stand it.  I know, sacrilege.  I'm a southerner from Texas who thinks Dr. Pepper is gross.  However, in this recipe, you don't taste it, all you taste is the sweet.  And man, is this sweet.


Pour over potatoes in baking dish.


Bake in 375F oven for 45 minutes.  Baste several times during bake time.


Remove from oven.  Just before serving, top with marshmallows (slapping away little blond boys' hands) and put under broiler til just browned.


So pretty!


Yummy!  Just so you don't think my family eats two pans of these at a sitting, I took them to a church dinner last night.  Every bite... gone.

Comments

[rainpuddle13.livejournal.com]

I smother mine is butter soaked brown sugar and pecans and bake until bubbly. :)

[airmidm.livejournal.com]

Dr. Pepper? Really? We use brown sugar, but I'll have to try it your way. This is the only time I can get my kids to eat a veggie other than green beans. Thanks for the recipe!

[seegrim.livejournal.com]

I must admit I'm intrigued by the Dr. Pepper. I'll try it and report back. :)

[brendanm720.livejournal.com]

In our house, it's pretty much the same, only we mash them up (with some butter and cream) before putting them into the casserole dishes, and there's no doctor pepper (brown sugar or molasses, depending on who is making them). There is definite marshmallowage, though, in the form of a bag of normal-sized marshmallows.

I'm intrigued by the chunks... I've never braised them in a syrup. That's an approach that I'll have to try.

Also:

Yams and Sweet Potatoes in America are the same species; there are several varieties and colors, but they're all basically the same thing.

The reason they're called yams (generally in the South, or by transplanted Southerners) is because they resemble a root that the slaves used to eat back in Africa. Since it was very nearly the same thing, they just used the same name.

It's amazing what you can learn by watching TV...

[dieloreley.livejournal.com]

That looks gooooood. I so want to reach out and grab that bag of Mini Marshmallows all for myself! *sticks out tongue at Ethan and Aaron* I think if I made these, though, Daniel would never ever have sweet potatoes any other way. *pouts* We do brown sugar and ginger either as a soup or baked. I think that might be the Asian way, though, because this is my grandma's method. *thinky*

[embe11ished.livejournal.com]

Yours looks more appetizing than the ones my husband makes. He does them along with carrots on the stove-top for hours and hours, basting with maple syrup and brown sugar, but he doesn't use marshmallows at all. I never got into the whole yam thing, though. I can't see the appeal. But he likes them, and does all the work himself, so what does it really matter to me? :)