“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
― Edmund Burke
I am going to share my family's favorite holiday recipe. One of my children starts talking about this dish in early fall, anticipating the holidays when I will make it. It is always looked for and always one of the first things to be finished off. I typically will make it for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, since we all love it so much! I have thought about making it more often, since it is so well loved, but the kids convinced me to leave it as a special holiday treat so they have something to look forward to.
Sweet Potato Casserole
3 c. mashed sweet potatoes
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Topping:
1 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. butter, softened
1/3 c. flour
1/2 - 1 c. chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil potatoes whole until tender. Remove and let cool, then mash. Add the rest of the ingredients (except for the topping ingredients) and mix well. Pour into a buttered baking dish. Mix the topping ingredients in a separate bowl, and cover the potatoes with it. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.
One thing I love about this recipe is that it can be made up to several days in advance and refrigerated until the day you need it. Just assemble all the ingredients but do not bake. Take it out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature before baking and it will be perfect!
Allergy Friendly Changes
To accomodate the food allergies in our family, I will be making two sweet potato casseroles - one laden with butter, wheat, and nuts, and the other safe and free from those evils!
For the allergy safe version, substitute Earth Balance Spread for the butter in both the filling and the topping. It melts easily, has a great taste, and works well in this recipe. There is also a soy free version if needed. For vanilla, be sure to use a gluten-free product. Substitute the milk of your choice for the dairy milk in the filling. The dairy free milk of choice in our house is Silk Vanilla Soy Milk, but any of the safe milks would work. Also, don't shy away from using a vanilla flavored milk, as it will enhance the flavor. For the topping, use a safe gluten-free flour. We most often use rice flour, but in a recipe like this, it would give a nice texture to use a gluten free baking mix or gluten-free Bisquick. Of course, if you have a nut allergy you can just omit the nuts from the topping. I imagine this would taste good if oats were subbed in for the nuts, but we haven't tried that as oats are not safe for those in our household who will be eating this.
I hope you enjoy my recipe, but even more importantly, I hope you build happy memories with your family this holiday! Don't focus so much on the food and cooking that you stress yourself out and can't enjoy the special times and memories made!
That looks yummy! I'm ready for Thanksgiving goodies. Have you ever made it without eggs? I'm sure they give it a soufle type texture. I wonder if egg replacer would work or if I should just omit them.
ReplyDeleteI never tried it without eggs. I bet egg replacer would work, but maybe change the texture a bit. It would probably be fine without though.
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