Make Apple Cinnamon Sweet Potatoes This Thanksgiving

When I was asked to be part of Devour Magazine’s blogger Thanksgiving story, I was assigned to do a special stuffing recipe. I immediately thought of Aunt Beth’s decadent sausage-and-pecan dressing that was a mainstay of Kim’s family for many years. But, another blogger really wanted to do her stuffing recipe, so I was then asked about doing a side dish, maybe yams.

I’m not a fan of the gooey marshmallow-topped yams that are often served on Thanksgiving. I remembered when a friend, Arlene Taylor, shared her recipe for yams cooked in orange juice for my Wasatch View magazine story. It gave them a brightness and hint of sweet. And when the Obamas were in the White House, they also served Thanksgiving sweet potatoes with a hit of orange juice. I liked the idea of using juice, but thought that apple juice, with butter and cinnamon, would give an autumn-y feeling. And then, pecans for texture and crunch. I tinkered with my idea a few times, and was pleased with the final recipe. You can omit the brown sugar topping and just use a sprinkle of pecans (shown in the photo above). I made a batch using stevia sweetener instead of sugar, and they were pretty good, probably since the cinnamon camouflaged any off-flavors of the sweetener. Although the recipe says to slice the sweet potatoes 1/4 inch thick, I also had great results when I used a mandolin that did 1/8-inch slices. And it shaved off a lot of time, as they were easier to slice and cooked faster.

Note: People often talk “yams” for Thanksgiving, but I chose red garnet sweet potatoes instead, for a few reasons:

• Sweet potatoes are fitting for an American holiday, since they originated in the Americas (likely South or Central Americas) while yams originated in Africa or Asia.
• Yam skins are harder to peel, something to think about when you’re making a dish for 12 people.
• Yams are less sweet and more starchy (and Thanksgiving already has a starchy veggie in mashed potatoes)
• The bright orange of red garnet sweet potatoes adds color to the mainly beige-and-brown Thanksgiving table of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy.

This dish can cook in the microwave, a bonus when Thanksgiving Day oven space is usually limited due to turkey roasting and pie baking. I recommend baking the last 10 minutes in the oven, to toast the pecans.

Another bonus: it travels and reheats well, so you can take it wherever you might be spending Thanksgiving.

About the Devour experience: In September, all of the invited bloggers met at the Gygi Culinary Store classroom, where we put the finishing touches on our assigned Thanksgiving dishes, posed for photos, and then sat down to a feast of everyone’s great food! What a fun experience. The recipes are in this issue of Devour.

Apple Cinnamon Sweet Potatoes With Pecans
8 large red garnet sweet potatoes
1½ cups apple juice or apple cider
¼ cup brown sugar (white sugar will do in a pinch)
¼ cup (½ stick) butter
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1½ teaspoons cinnamon
Topping:
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large (at least 2 quart) microwaveable casserole dish, heat the apple juice, sugar, butter, salt, pepper and cinnamon in the microwave for 2 minutes, or until the butter is completely melted. Stir to mix well.

Peel and thinly slice the sweet potatoes, placing them in the casserole dish with the apple juice mixture as you go. Stir to coat all the slices with the apple juice liquid. Cover with lid and microwave on high for 15 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are tender. Remove from the microwave and stir to evenly coat the slices with the liquid. Mix together the topping ingredients of brown sugar, cinnamon and chopped pecans. Sprinkle over the top and bake, uncovered, in the oven at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. (Or microwave an additional 5 minutes, uncovered.) Serves 10-16 people.