Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Family Favorite - Baked Sweet Potatoes or Candied Sweet Potatoes

With my family, they prefer the sweet potatoes over yam.  Yam is just too moist and mushy.  That's why sweet potatoes are our choice.  My personal preference is just buy the roasted sweet potatoes from the street vendor in Japan... well that was many many years ago, but they sure make you forget the cold winter and warm your heart all the way home carrying it.  In Japan, at least in the old days, the street vendor would roast sweet potatoes on a cart.  The vendor roasts sweet potatoes by burying them in hot rock/pebbles bed above the wood burning oven underneath.  I always had fun watching him fishing for the biggest roasted sweet smelling sweet potatoes for me.  You could do the same by baking/roasting whole unpeeled sweet potatoes in the oven, but it's just not the same.  Anyways, for Thanksgiving Day dinner and for Christmas family dinner, baked sweet potatoes are always welcomed by everyone.


 Buy a bag of Organic Sweet Potatoes - hopefully NOT Jewel Yam, this is too moist, and they would turn out too mushy. Maybe Yam is fine.
I like to choose Japanese Sweet Potatoes or Sweet Potatoes - yellow or any others at the grocery store, except JEWEL Yam.
You need:
Organic Sweet Potatoes - 4 lb or 5 lb bag
Butter - Unlsalted - 1 stick - cut into 8 tablespoons size - look at the wrapper - there is measurement marking per tablespoon.
Brown Sugar - 3/4 Cup to 1 C - depending on your sweetness you want
Mini Marshmallows or large sizes shredded to small pieces  1/2 C or 1 Cup, decide if you want that much
a Baking pan
1/3 C water

Wash, Peel, and Slice the Sweet potatoes.
Place the sweet potatoes cut length wise in the baking pan.
Add 1/3 C water
Add Butter Chunks on top
Top with Brown Sugar --- you need to gauge it yourself how sweet you want.
*Because sweet potatoes are already sweet.  Do you want even 3/4 Cup of brown sugar?   Do you still want to Top it with Marshmallow at the end?  That's also very sweet.     DO NOT ADD THE MARSHMALLOW until the end.

Cover the baking pan with aluminum foil.
Bake in oven at 375'F until done - insert a knife or chopstick or fork - the potatoes should be very soft.
Doneness:  Potatoes are soft and Butter and brown sugar should be caramelized around the sweet potatoes - but not burnt. If there are whole lot of water and liquid (melted butter and natural sugar from sweet potatoes and brown sugar) still at the bottom of the pan or
If the potatoes are still hard - cover and bake again, but lower the temperature to 350'F.
When soft, remove aluminum foil.
Option:  Add marshmallow to the top.   Bake a bit long till marshmallow melts and or browned a bit.

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