A Modern Take on Sweet Potato Casserole

Recipe: A Modern Take on Sweet Potato Casserole

The dish? Classic sweet potato casserole. The modern spin? Individual portions with bespoke toppings. Sweet potato casserole is always a “do” for Thanksgiving dinner, and this personalized take on the go-to dish is the perfect way to add a special touch to the day’s festivities. Inspired by the author’s family recipe, the warm, sweet casserole boasts brown sugar, pecans and toppings that range from marshmallows to coconut. A timeless, tasty dish with a personalized twist? Now that’s a recipe we can all be thankful for! Try pairing this recipe with our gold-awarded Pinot Noir. It’s timeless meets classic all for the love of togetherness.

Recipe by Kristi, former event planner, creative mom and founder of the lifestyle blog, ishouldbemoppingthefloor.com.

Kristi’s Sweet Potato Casserole with Three Topping Options

Ingredients:

I’m listing the ingredients to prepare an entire casserole with just one of the toppings {since that is the most common way to prepare this}. If you’d prefer to make the individual casseroles like I did, you’ll need to either use one topping option for all of your mini casseroles or reduce the amount of each topping’s ingredients by 2/3.

• 4 pounds of sweet potatoes
• 1 stick salted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Topping Option #1:

• 1 bag Kraft Jet-Puffed Mini Marshmallows

Topping Option #2:

• 2 cups cornflakes cereal, crushed
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 2 tbsp. brown sugar
• 2 tbsp. salted butter, melted

Topping Option #3:

• 1 1/2 cups Baker’s Sweetened Coconut
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• pinch of salt

Directions:
Cut small slivers into the sweet potatoes. Bake them in a 400 degree preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours or until tender. Let cool, about an hour, before handling them. Remove skins and place potatoes into a large bowl. Using a mixer, add the softened stick of salted butter, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 cup light brown sugar, 1/4 cup whole milk, 3 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Fold in 1/2 cup chopped pecans. At this point, you can either transfer the mixture to a greased 9×13 casserole dish, or you can create individual casseroles in ramekins, like I did. Go ahead and mix the ingredients of your topping together. Topping options #2 and #3 can be baked the entire time on top of the casserole. The first topping, the marshmallows, will need to be left off until the last ten minutes of baking time. You’ll have to watch them closely {as I mentioned above, we’ve caught many a marshmallow topping on fire}, until they’re just browned. If the other two topping options start to get too brown for you, tent them with aluminum foil for their baking. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes. Again, if you’re doing the marshmallow topping, you’ll only add it for the last ten minutes of baking. Once the marshmallows are on, watch the casserole until they’re lightly browned and then remove from oven. Let sit for ten minutes before serving. As you can see in the photo above, I baked the second and third topping casseroles the entire time but waited to add those marshmallows until the last ten minutes. If you do the mini casseroles, be sure to use a cookie sheet to bake them on. It will catch any overflow that may bubble out of your dishes.