Orange Spiced Mashed Sweet Potatoes

By Astrid

Ingredients

• 5 lbs. sweet potatoes (Eugenia prefers red to orange but both work)
• 4 TB. butter, thinly sliced (1/2 stick)
• 1/4 Cup orange marmalade
• 1 TB. minced CRYSTALLIZED GINGER, 1/2 tsp. POWDERED GINGER, or 2 TB. ginger preserves
• 1 tsp. salt, or to taste
• 1 tsp. PENZEYS CINNAMON
• 1/2 tsp. GROUND CORIANDER
• 1/4 tsp. GROUND MACE
• 1/4 tsp. freshly grated NUTMEG, to taste
• 2 tsp. PURE VANILLA EXTRACT
• 1/2 Cup pecans

Details

Servings 6
Adapted from penzeys.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 400. Cover a heavy baking sheet with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Pierce the sweet potatoes with a fork, place on the baking sheet, and bake for about 1 hour or until soft. Remove the sweet potatoes from the oven. Turn the heat down to 200.
Remove the skins and pack into a measuring cup to get 51/2 cups; retain any extra for another recipe (TIP: if for some reason youre short, dont panic, just add some canned pumpkin; nobody will ever know). Place the sweet potatoes in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and mash well. Stir in the marmalade, ginger, salt, SPICES and VANILLA. Mix well. Taste and add more salt or CINNAMON if desired.
Pack the mixture into an 8x8 baking dish and cover well with foil. Place in the 200 oven and keep hot until close to serving time. Remove from the oven, stir well and top with the pecans. Turn the oven up to 350 and bake an additional 5-10 minutes, uncovered, to toast the pecans. Serve.

Notes: This recipe can be made up to 2 days ahead of time, simply refrigerate without the pecans until ready to bake. If youre baking the prepared sweet potato mixture straight from the refrigerator, heat in a 350 oven for 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once hot, top with the pecans and bake 5-10 minutes or until the pecans have toasted.

Prep. time: 10 minutes plus 1-hour potato baking times
Cooking time: 5-10 minutes warming/pecan toasting time
Serves: 6-8