a dessert masquerading as a side dish

Oh, beloved sweet potato casserole. Who do you think you're fooling? Sure, you may be served alongside a baked ham or roasted turkey, but you're no side dish. Something so naturally sweet topped with brown sugar, cinnamon, coconut, and oats is clearly dessert. I'm on to you, sweet potato casserole. I'm smarter than I look.



Given my sweet tooth, it's no surprise that sweet potato casserole is my favorite side dish (if you're comfortable calling it that). I've already confessed that it usually takes up a good chunk of my plate during holiday meals.

This recipe is loosely based on the one taught to me by my grandma. I say "loosely based" because I've tweaked it over the years and made it my own. The end result is a smooth and creamy cinnamon-tinged sweet tater base with a crispy, coconutty, cinnamon streuselicious topping (I do love me some cinnamon...). It's so dessert-like, I'd say I feel guilty eating it as a side dish, but that would be a blatant lie. And I may be a lot of things, but I'm no liar.


Sweet Potater Casserole
3 cups sweet potatoes, cooked, peeled, and mashed
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup milk (more or less, to desired consistency)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Streusel Topping:
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup coconut
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup margarine or butter, cold

In a mixing bowl, thoroughly combine sweet potatoes, sugar, egg, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon.
Pour into 9x9" greased baking dish or a casserole dish of similar size.
Mix the topping ingredients together, cut in the margarine or butter until crumbly, and sprinkle over the potato mixture.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes, or until the topping is properly brown and crunchy.


Interesting side note: Sweet taters have lots of anticancer properties, mostly stemming from their beta-carotene, which may protect DNA in the cell nucleus from cancer-causing chemicals. Because of this, I'm using this post as a contribution to an event created by Chris at Mele Cotte--the second annual Cooking to Combat Cancer. I would be remiss if I didn't say just how much I respect and admire people who attack cancer head-on. I can only hope that I would be that strong in such a situation.


On a lighter note, tomorrow is Tater Day, certainly a day worth celebrating!