Baked Sweet Potatoes

Baked Sweet Potatoes with Warm Maple Drizzle and Toasted Pecans – doesn’t the title alone elicit a drool-worthy anticipation of the goodness to follow? I created this recipe for a friend’s birthday celebration. I wanted the menu to be tasty, but I’ve been on a diet for over four months now. Nothing boring would work for a birthday celebration! No boneless, skinless chicken breasts and a salad! No siree, bob!

I love sweet potatoes and yams slathered in butter. Who doesn’t? But, that wasn’t going to work for me with my new, healthier eating plan. If I left off the butter and drizzled it with sugar-free maple syrup, would I feel like I was missing something? How about if I kicked it up a notch and added brown sugar substitute, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, red pepper flakes and brandy? What if I heated it and served it warm? How about throwing on toasted pecans? Not candied pecans; just toasted pecans? Before I knew it, this recipe was born.

I’m blessed with many friends and two of them, Sioux and Cathy, I have known for 30+ years. We got together in September to celebrate Sioux’s birthday. We usually go out to dinner, but I said “come to my house.” You see, 30+ years ago, we started out going to dinner and a movie at least once a month. All of us single, we had more “me” time available, so getting together wasn’t a problem. As time progressed, we each married and our lives became more complicated and that once-a-month get-together stretched into once every couple of months. Then, it morphed into only going to see Julia Roberts’ movies together because we fell in love with Julia when we saw her first big box-office movie back in 1988 together, Mystic Pizza.

But, then, the dinner and a movie night morphed into just dinner, because when we got together, we always had so much to share and not enough time, so we skipped the movie, even Julia movies. Although we still try to see a Julia Roberts movie at least once a year. And, we still struggle to get time together on the calendar – it’s a juggling act with busy lives and families and careers…

Here’s a picture of the birthday table:

Sioux’s Birthday table

And, a close-up of the place setting:

Charlie’s stoneware

I call this “Charlie’s stoneware” because he gave me this set of dishes one year for Christmas. I love the depth of color in this stoneware and the swirly, splattered paint. Each dish is different. We don’t use them often, because they are very heavy and I’m afraid if I load a set in the dishwasher, the weight will break the dishwasher racks! And, because we don’t use them often, they were stored in our outside storage container when we lost our house. The firefighters rescued the storage container, so saved its contents. So, this set of stoneware is even more precious to me…

I love them on the bright yellow placemats with my blue glassware…

Before I go on, I just want to clarify that I do, indeed, know that the potatoes in these pictures are yams and not sweet potatoes. But, to me, they taste the same and have the same qualities. When shopping, I usually pick up yams because they are more brightly colored than sweet potatoes. I thought, briefly, about changing the title of this post to “Baked Yams with Warm Maple Drizzle and Toasted Pecans” but just like “Baked Sweet Potatoes with Warm Maple Drizzle and Toasted Pecans” better. So, you can actually substitute one for the other as far as I’m concerned!

Here’s what I did:

Preparing the sweet potatoes

This photo collage is composed of three different cooking days. I made them several times to refine the recipe and each time, the yams were slightly different in shape. Yams and sweet potatoes are those funny-shaped root vegetables that because they are roots, grow in weird shapes and sizes. If I am serving individual yams or sweet potatoes to our guests, I attempt to pick out ones that are similar in size and shape. That’s to make sure they all cook evenly in the oven and all are finished baking at about the same time. The larger the yam or sweet potato is, the longer it will take to cook. So, start by preheating your oven to 375 degrees.

This picture shows two different sized yams. The smaller one is about 4 inches long and the larger one is about 6 inches.
Whichever you decide (small or large), attempt to pick potatoes that are relatively the same size.
Rinse your potatoes in cold water to remove any dirt.
Trim off any little end roots that are scraggly. This is a really fat yam and will take longer to cook!
Poke each yam or sweet potato with a knife so that it releases its steam as it cooks.
Wrap each yam or sweet potato in foil. Place on baking sheet (if they ooze out, you don’t want them to dirty your oven!) and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour (depending of the size of the potato). Check your potato for doneness by inserting a sharp knife into the center (you can do this through the foil). If the knife goes in easily, the potato is done!

In the meantime, toast your pecans:

Toasting the pecans

For 4 people, you will need about 1/4 cup of pecan halves.
Give them a rough chop.
Toast in a dry, non-stick pan over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Do not leave them unattended, as they can burn quickly. Remove from heat and set aside.

Ingredients for Warm Maple Drizzle

Then, gather your ingredients for the Warm Maple Drizzle. If you are not on a diet, you can substitute regular maple syrup and regular brown sugar. This photo doesn’t include the brandy because the brandy was a last minute addition. It is optional, but everything’s better with a little brandy, don’t you think?

Heat the Warm Maple Drizzle

Put all the ingredients, except the brandy, for the Warm Maple Drizzle into a sauce pan and whisk to combine, heating over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Again, don’t leave this unattended or it may burn. Remove from heat, add brandy, whisk again and set aside until ready to serve the yams or sweet potatoes. You can reheat this concoction on the stove top or transfer to a microwave safe glass bowl and reheat in the microwave for about 30 seconds.

Baked Yam or Sweet Potato

Once the potatoes are done, carefully remove the foil, plate them and slice open by cutting down the center with a knife. Use a fork to “fluff” the yam, preserving its integrity. Drizzle with Warm Maple Drizzle and sprinkle with Toasted Pecans. Serve immediately.

Deciding the linens for photography

When I made these sweet potatoes (yams) the first time, I struggled with trying to decide how to set them up to photograph. I spend way too much time on that! The collage above shows a sweet potato in the center of a dessert plate with four different backgrounds (and walnuts instead of pecans):

On a golden-colored placemat with red and rust ginko leaves and a golden napkin
On a plaid placemat of autumn colors
On a rattan placemat with the placemat of autumn colors folded to represent a napkin
On a rattan placemat with the ginko placemat folded to represent a napkin

Which do you like best? In the end, I didn’t like any of them because the sweet potato/yam was too small! It was dwarfed by the plate! It seemed to be in the middle of a vast golden ocean! {grin}

Baked Sweet Potato close-up

So, this is a giant yam! It fills the plate! And, it will take you about 2 hours to bake! But, for photography reasons, I decided to go with the monster yam! {grin}

Baked Sweet Potatoes with Warm Maple Drizzle and Toasted Pecans Pinterest

Here’s a vertical photo for Pinterest. In this photo, there is a lot going on! I used the rattan placement, the ginko placemat and the plaid placemat all together! Plus, I added a flowered napkin in a squished caterpillar green {grin} and a green pothos plant in the background. As if all that color saturation and activity weren’t enough, I added some of the 33 pumpkins I bought when I had Pumpkin Fever! And, this picture shows the Warm Maple Drizzle in a small pitcher and the Toasted Pecans in a tiny bowl. I did soften the sensory overload with a cream-colored plate!

Here are a couple more pictures to whet your appetite – why give you only one when I can give you ten or twenty or 42 like I did in 42 Shades of Orange?

Baked Sweet Potatoes with Warm Maple Drizzle

Baked Sweet Potatoes with Warm Maple Drizzled and Toasted Pecans

Here’s the recipe:

Baked Sweet Potatoes with Warm Maple Drizzle and Toasted Pecans

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Deliciously decadent, this side dish can be made with sugary substitutes or the real thing!

Author: Carole from Toot Sweet 4 Two
Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 20 mins
Yield: 4 1x
Category: Side Dish
Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Scale

4 small sweet potatoes or yams, all approximately the same size
1/4 cup pecan halves, roughly chopped
1/2 cup sugar-free maple syrup
1 tablespoon brown sugar substitute
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon vanilla
Smidgen of salt (about 1/8 teaspoon)
1 tablespoon brandy

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Rinse 4 sweet potatoes or yams under running water to wash off any excess dirt.
Poke a hole in each sweet potato.
Wrap each potato in aluminum foil and place on baking sheet.
Bake in oven 45 minutes to an hour for small sweet potatoes or yams or up to 2 hours if the potato is large.
Test for doneness with a clean knife inserted in the center; if the knife goes in easily, your potato is done!
In the meantime, rough chop the pecans.
Toast in dry, non-stick pan over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently; do not leave unattended or they will burn!
Remove pecans from heat and set aside.
Add remaining ingredients, except the brandy, to a sauce pan and whisk to combine.
Heat over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until hot.
Do not leave sauce unattended or it may burn, too!
Remove from heat and set aside until ready to serve the potatoes; sauce can be reheated on stove top or microwave.
If reheating sauce in microwave, transfer to microwave safe glass dish and microwave for about 30 seconds.
When potatoes are done, remove from oven.
Carefully remove foil wrapping and place each potato on serving plate.
Cut each potato open with a knife and “fluff” the potato with a fork.
Drizzle with warm maple drizzle and top with a scattering of pecans.
Serve immediately.

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This makes a good side dish for Thanksgiving instead of Sweet Potato Casserole. Actually, it makes a good side dish anytime!

Tootles,

(other recipes for Thanksgiving or anytime!)