Sweet Potato Casserole

For our annual (it's becoming a yearly tradition, yay!) pre-Thanksgiving potluck, I tried out a sweet potato casserole that turned out to be a hit! This side dish is deliciously creamy with a crunchy topping. Don't be fooled, while it highlights the natural sweetness of yams and sweet potatoes, don't wait till dessert to bring out this dish!

A few tips: I used a mixture of yams and sweet potatoes in making this dish, mainly because yams are cheaper and gives the dish a gorgeous orange hue. I used 2.5 lbs Beauregard yams and 1.5 lbs sweet potato. I popped the yams and sweet potato into the oven to roast along with the turkey at whatever temperature the turkey was baking at for about an hour. When I took out the yams and sweet potato, they were soft and easily popped out of their skins. Also, I ended up using almond slices instead of pecans in the topping, because it was what I had on hand. The casserole turned out fine, but I'm sure pecans would supply even more crunchiness.

Sweet Potato Casserole (modified from Allrecipes.com)

4 lbs. yams and sweet potato
1/4 c. white sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. salt
4 tbsp. butter, softened
1/2 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. flour
3 tbsp. butter, softened
1/2 c. chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wrap sweet potatoes and yams in aluminum foil and roast in oven until soft (about 45 minutes).  
2. Decrease oven temperature to 325 degrees. Scoop out flesh of sweet potatoes and yams and mix with white sugar, eggs, salt, 4 tbsp. butter, milk, and vanilla extract. Beat until smooth. Transfer mixture to a casserole dish (or equivalent 8x8 baking dish). 
3. Topping: Combine brown sugar and flour. Cut in butter until mixture is coarse. Mix in pecans. Sprinkle topping over sweet potato/yam mixture. 
4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until topping is lightly browned.