Sweet Potatoes to Live for

I never really liked sweet potatoes.  I can remember each year at Thanksgiving my mom poured out the can of sweet potatoes, topped it with corn syrup and marshmallow cream and baked them.  I was never a fan.  But then, I tried SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE.  My life was changed.  I discovered I LOVE sweet potatoes, just not canned sweet potatoes (I share this relationship with spinach as well).  Anyway, this Thanksgiving I was in charge of the sweet potatoes.  I found a recipe that I adjusted and made my own and it was a HUGE hit.  When my brother took his first bite he couldn't stop raving for 10 minutes. So, try this recipe out.  Jackson made me pinkie promise to never ever try another sweet potato recipe again and to make this every single year.  And any time in between! 

When I made this, I used 8 sweet potatoes (some were humongous and some were small)... I estimated that it came to be about 12 c. mashed.  The huge pan of sweet potatoes was gone within 2 days and only 7 people were eating them.  So, make more than you think you'll need! This is for half the batch that I made. 

Ingredients

• 6 cups sweet potato, cubed
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tbl butter, softened
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
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• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup and 1 teaspoon butter, softened
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

1. Wrap sweet potatoes in tinfoil.  Bake at 325 F for 1 hr.  Let the potatoes cool a bit and then take the skins off, they should slide right off. 
2. Mash the sweet potatoes in a large bowl (or use your kitchen aid, which is always rather convenient). 
3. Add the white sugar, eggs, salt, butter, milk and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth. Transfer to a 9x13 inch baking dish.
4. In medium bowl, mix the brown sugar and flour. Cut in the butter until the mixture is coarse. Stir in the pecans. Sprinkle the mixture over the sweet potato mixture.
5. Bake in the preheated oven 30 minutes, or until the topping is lightly brown.