This is how I have been making my sweet potatoes since I can remember, and how my mother and grandmother did before me. The only difference is that I use brown sugar instead of white. I think it gives it a more "carmelized" flavor and texture. I also omit the spices all together. I don't care for spicy sweet potatoes, just SWEET sweet potatoes :0) Be sure to use "real" butter for this as that is part of the fabulous end result!!!! Thanks!
If you want more of a candied yam where they almost look fried around the edges, then reduce the amount of sugar and butter. Too much sauce drowns the potatoes and they overcook in too much sauce and start falling apart, become liquidy and mushy. So many recipes call for too much liquid, reduce by half and make sure to cook your butter and sugar first for carmelization, then add your potatoes. Make sure there is just enough sauce on the bottom of the potatoes and NOT half way up. Then they become candied.
Slow cooking without stirring made all the difference - thank you I finally made the perfect sweet potatoes! I only baked the potatoes for a bit so they would not fall apart while slow cooking and stay firm. Also, I only used about 2 TBS brown sugar. About 5 minutes before serving, I transfered them to a casserole dish and added chopped pecans then topped with marshmallows and browned it in the oven. So yummy!
I saw another reviewer say that after it was done...didn't want to make again because of the work. I had the complete opposite reaction. We liked these so much that I would definately do these again. Don't get me wrong, it is time consuming...but we believe they are totally worth it. Do be careful because they can burn. We found french vanilla cool whip and ate this as a dessert the next day (yum leftovers). Thanks for a great recipe.
Im orgionaly from Texas and this has been in the family for generations. Try adding 1tblspoon of Brown sugar for every 3 sweetpotatoes used.. it adds a nice warmness to the dish.
I found this recipe looking for a new sweet potato recipe for Thanksgiving. Now my family expects me to make this for every holiday!
Delicious and easy. I used about 2 pounds of sweet potatoes, uncooked. Peeled and sliced them into a baking pan. I also used half white and half brown sugar. Baked them covered at 375 degrees for about 1 and a 1/2 hours.
Excellent recipe! Much easier than the way I made them in the past. I needed a large dutch oven sized pot to cook six sweet potatoes though. I left them in large chunks so they wouldn't disintigrate while cooking. The addition of vanilla is awesome but my family doesn't care for cinnamon and nutmeg in their candied sweet potatoes, so I added the zest of one small orange which added a nice flavor.
I love this recipe but my son is diabetic so I use Splenda in place of the sugar and double the spices. Some times I also add a little sugar free maple flavored syrup for a more traditional taste I also bake it. I served it at our family Thanksgiving and everyone loved it. They also liked the fact it was much lower in calories.
