Chef notes
I don’t know where my mom came up with this recipe. I’ve heard of many versions of it from the South, but my mom wasn’t from the South! Somehow, though, it became a Thanksgiving staple for our family. It provided us with hours of entertainment, as my mom always got distracted as soon as it went under the broiler, which caused the smoke alarm to go off and resulted in endless laughter. And that’s why, to this day, I always buy two bags of marshmallows — just in case.
Ingredients
- 6 large sweet potatoes, about 4 pounds total, peeled and cut into 2-inch cubes
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- kosher salt
- 1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
- 1 (12-ounce) bag large marshmallows
Preparation
1.Preheat an oven to 350 F. Butter a 9- by 12-inch glass baking dish.
2.Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add the sweet potatoes and cook until soft, about 12 minutes. Drain the potatoes and transfer to a large bowl. Add the butter and mash the potatoes with the butter. Stir in the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and 1 teaspoon salt until well blended. Fold in the crushed pineapple and transfer to the prepared baking dish.
3.Bake until the sweet potatoes are brown on top, about 30 minutes Remove from the oven and place the marshmallows in a single layer on top.
4.Preheat the broiler and place the dish underneath the broiler to toast the marshmallows. Watch carefully as they will toast very fast!
