Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

This year's odd Thanksgiving has come and gone. We were home alone but thankful for FaceTime and Zoom so that we could have a little visit with the family. While we certainly missed the big family gathering and the tables loaded with food, we didn't starve. Far from it. And I didn't have to cook for a couple of days. LOTS of leftovers. 

Since I was only cooking for us, it was a good time to try a new recipe. Our Thanksgiving table always includes a sweet potato casserole. I love it. It's topped with brown sugar, nuts and cinnamon. It's sweet enough and rich enough to be a dessert—even after I halved the amount of butter my mother used— but here in the south it totally qualifies as a vegetable. 

A plain baked sweet potato is pretty awesome. If they are really good potatoes, they are sweet enough as is. A sprinkle of cinnamon is all you need. But it was Thanksgiving. I wanted something "special." And I found the perfect recipe. Here is my version of the Food Network recipe from The Neelys. It was an easy make ahead dish that was much lighter on the add-ins than my usual. Adding this to my recipe list. 

TWICE BAKED SWEET POTATOES

3 medium sweet potatoes, similar in size & shape

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

Salt & pepper

Cinnamon sugar (I keep some mixed up in a shaker bottle)

Preheat oven to 400º. Scrub potatoes well. Place on baking sheet and bake 1 hour, or until tender. 

While potatoes are baking, mix remaining ingredients, except for salt and pepper. 

Let potatoes cool enough to handle. Cut potatoes in half and scoop flesh into a mixing bowl. Mix in the butter/cream cheese mixture completely, adding salt & pepper to taste. (I only added a little.) Spoon potato filling back into potato shells. Sprinkle tops with cinnamon sugar.

Place potatoes in a baking dish. If you are making the day ahead, cover and refrigerate. Before serving, bake at 350º for about 30 minutes. If you aren’t making them ahead, bake after stuffing the potatoes for about 15 minutes.

Serves 6

Today, after making these for our Thanksgiving, I actually watched the video of The Neelys making these. They did it slightly differently so that each person got a whole potato. For our meal which had many side dishes, a half potato was plenty big enough.