Sweet Potato Casserole

Sweet potato casserole is my husband's absolute favorite Thanksgiving side dish. It was never one of my favorites because nearly every sweet potato casserole I had ever seen was covered in gooey marshmallows, not on my list of desired foods to eat,  and so filled with sugar that you couldn't even tell there were sweet potatoes in it. Still, I wanted him to be happy on the holiday, so I went on a mission to find a healthier version that maybe I would actually enjoy as well. 

This recipe was found 5 or 6 years ago. I originally found it when I was flipping channels and saw  a cooking segment on The 700 Club, not exactly my normal choice for t.v. watching or recipe finding, but this recipe sounded great and they had worked to reduce the calories, fat and sugar content significantly from the average sweet potato casserole. The original recipe calls for 4 C butternut squash pulp and twice the remaining ingredients to compensate for it, but I've never made it that way. My recent love of all things butternut causes me to believe that it would be divine, but I'll stick with this version for the holiday this year. Let me know if you try this. It's fantastic, and it's not too sweet so it actually tastes like sweet potatoes. This also doubles very easily if you're feeding a larger crowd (or add the butternut squash).

INGREDIENTS:
4 cups sweet potato pulp (4 large sweet potatoes, approx.)
1⁄4 cup butter
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3 teaspoons milk 

Topping:
1⁄4 cup butter, just softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup whole oats
1⁄4 teaspoon cinnamon
1⁄4 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions:

Roast sweet potatoes any way you like. I roast mine in the skins at 350 for about an hour depending on the size of the potato. When they're tender, I slice them in half and scoop out the pulp. You can wait until they're cool if you do this ahead of time.

Combine sweet potato pulp, butter, salt, egg and milk and pour into casserole dish. This can be done the day before, but the topping needs to be added right before baking.

In separate bowl, combine topping ingredients. I use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the mixture. Crumble on top of sweet potatoes.

Bake at 375 for 45-60 minutes.