We’re have a super gigantic Thanksgiving this year with all of Mister’s family. His dad’s got a big birthday coming up during the season so we’ll all be gathering to pay homage. I was asked to provide the birthday cake, two pies and sweet potatoes. Wait . . . what? I don’t know how to make sweet potatoes! Why did that ask me to make those? It turns out I made some really phenomenal sweet potatoes a couple of years ago and everyone has been dreaming of them since. Only I have no recollection of making them. Which means I have no idea what recipe I used.
With great trepidation I went to my recipe box and there was a recipe for Sweet Potatoes! And I’d written the word “fantastic” across the top! Phew. I was really panicking. Now that I have the recipe, it’s sort of coming back to me. It was really great! I remember that now.
I did not grow up in a marshmallow-on-sweet-potatoes family. We ate candied yams. But Mister’s family is all about the marshamallows and sugar in everything. So I made this recipe, which has a pecan streusel topping, and after it finished baking I covered the top with marshmallows and set it under the broiler for a couple of minutes until the marshmallows were golden brown. The streusel ended up being a crunchy surprise layer in the middle of the marshmallows and potatoes.
I wish I could show you a step-by-step tutorial but as I’ve only made this once and I barely remember how to do it, let me merely give the recipe to you with promise of being the heroine of Thanksgiving dinner. These sweet potatoes really are decadent and fantastic.
4 1/2 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup milk
1 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup butter
1 cup chopped pecans
Grease a 9×13 pan. Preheat oven to 350°.
In a large bowl mix together mashed sweet potatoes, 1/2 cup butter, milk, sugar, vanilla, and eggs.
Spread sweet potato mixture into greased baking dish. In a small bowl, mix brown sugar and flour. Cut in 1/3 cup butter until mixture is crumbly then stir in pecans. Sprinkle pecan mixture over the sweet potatoes.
Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until golden brown. It tastes great at this point but if you want to gild the lily and add marshamallows, be my guest. Just sprinkle tiny marshamallows over the top and broil at 400° until they’re golden brown. This will only take a couple of minutes so don’t walk away!
I’m off to smock a dress with a friend this morning (I’m so excited! I’ve always wanted to learn how!) and then the Thanksgiving preparations begin.
I asked everybody in the family and it seems that we only care about mashed potatoes, rolls and dessert. We can’t exactly skip the turkey, but I think we’ll just get some smoked at the local BBQ place.
I had the bad idea of inviting York’s best friend’s family over for dessert. They’re from Jordan and I figured it would be nice for them to have real, homemade American food. I have since learned that their relatives from Jordan will be in town so it looks like we’ll be having an additional 15 people over.
Jennie’s Dessert Factory will be open for business this afternoon. I will be making (in addition to 24 rolls and a ton of mashed potatoes):
2 apple pies
pecan pie
Tin Roof pie (chocolate mouse over a base of caramel and peanuts. Yum!)
Lemon Truffle Pie (I know; so not Thanksgivingish. But I get tired of the same heavy desserts every Thanksgiving. I’m always kind of embarrassed making it since it’s lemon and lemon is for summer, right? But it’s my favorite pie ever and I’m really glad when it comes time for dessert.)
Pumpkin Roll (I love pumpkin cake and cream cheese. So good!)
Oreo Casserole (for the kids. And me.) The recipe is
here. It’s amazing how fantastic a pile of chemicals can taste.
We’re supposed to be having pumpkin pie too (that’s a rule, I believe) but I do not like it and will therefore not be making it. It’s just too vegetal to be dessert. Somebody else will have to bring it. Or maybe I’ll just get one at Costco later. Isn’t pumpkin pie one of those things that tastes fine store-bought?
My feet are going to be killing me by Thursday night and I’m estimating that I will run the dishwasher at least 15 times in the next three days. Usually I’m utterly spent by Thanksgiving dinner and just slump in my chair and shovel food in for several hours. But this year I’ll have to be a sparkling and scintillating hostess for strangers. Not to mention I’ll get to explain why we won’t be having coffee with dessert. (Always awkward.) At least they’re Muslim so they won’t be expecting any alcohol. I hope.
It will all be worth it for those 5000 calories I plan on eating, though.
(And Charlie, this is smocking:)
Would somebody grab this friggin’ turkey before I drop it???!!!
Mmmm, rolls. My favorite thing to eat.
Pie. One of many.
I was so excited about the food situation I forgot to take any more pictures. It was one of our tastiest Thanksgivings, though.
Today I am thankful for:
Health! We haven’t been sick all year. Hooray!
My husband finally getting a job that he loves.
Cheap gas
I’ve got the turkey defrosting in the fridger (that’s what Ada calls it). Next on my list is homemade crescent rolls and an apple pie. I’ve already run into a snag: there are only Gala and Fuji apples at the grocery store. Who decided these are the only apples we get to eat? Where are my Granny Smiths and Johnagolds? I’m going to have to hit the other grocery stores in town looking for my apples.
Anyway, after asking everyone in the family what dish they simply can’t live without over Thanksgiving (because I want to make as little food as possible, of course), it has become evident that every single person has something different that they simply must have. Do we really need rolls and mashed potatoes? Yes. Because rolls are my favorite and potatoes are Ari’s. Do we really need a pumpkin pie? Yes, that’s my Mom’s favorite. I despise it, and apple is ho-hum to me, so I’ll be making chocolate cream pie for myself and all the other people who want something chocolatey.
Basically what I’m trying to say is that I’ll be a kitchen slave for the next 24 hours. Anyone else in cooking hell with me?
