Over the years I’ve often eaten sweet potatoes that were “candied” with brown sugar or baked in a brown sugar sauce. I recently came across a hundred-year-old recipe with a “new” twist. It called for using maple syrup instead of brown sugar, and the sweet potatoes were mashed prior to baking.
The Mashed Sweet Potato Caramel was lovely. The caramelized maple syrup and butter topping was sweet and enchanting.
Here’s the original recipe:
I don’t generally have leftover cooked sweet potatoes in my refrigerator, so I started with whole sweet potatoes when I made this recipe and cooked them. I added about 2 tablespoons of milk to the sweet potatoes after I mashed them, and that seemed like about the right amount of added liquid. I seasoned the mashed sweet potatoes with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Mashed Sweet Potato Caramel
3 medium sweet potatoes
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup butter
Put sweet potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil using high heat, then reduce heat and cook until the sweet potatoes are tender when tested by inserting a knife (30-40 minutes). Remove from heat, drain, and cool slightly so the sweet potatoes can be handled. Gently remove the peels from the cooked sweet potatoes, then put in a mixing bowl and mash. Add milk, salt, and pepper; mix until combined. Put the mashed sweet potatoes in a baking dish.
In the meantime, preheat oven to 400° F. Put the maple syrup and butter in a saucepan. Bring to a boil using medium heat, then reduce heat and continue cooking until it begins to thicken (5 – 10 minutes). Pour over the mashed sweet potatoes in the baking dish. Put in oven and bake until hot and bubbly, and the maple syrup mixture begins to caramelize. (I baked for about 25 minutes, but the length of time varies greatly depending upon how hot the mashed sweet potatoes are when placed in the oven.)
