november results: sweet potato oranges

The one that managed to stay somewhat upright in the oven. :)

Oh, Sweet Potato Oranges . . . how I underestimated you. I have to confess that I was a tad skeptical of how you would turn out, especially when I realized exactly how much sugar I was pouring into the bowl. However, you came out of the oven smelling quite lovely, and I was pleasantly surprised when I took my first bite. You weren't as sweet as I expected (though next time I might reduce the sugar as some other reviewers did, which I don't think would compromise your flavor at all). I really liked the hint of orange and the taste and textural contrast of the pecans. You're like the classier younger cousin of Thanksgiving marshmallow sweet potato casserole.

Okay, now that I'm done talking to the food:

The process of putting this dish together went together pretty smoothly, though I did accidentally "unplug" the bottom of one orange while I was scooping out the insides. I had visions of sweet potato filling oozing out of the bottom while it was baking, so I put the sliced-off top of the orange inside the orange (I'm sure that made sense) to plug the hole and prevent that from happening. Worked like a charm!

Also, I scaled the recipe to 2 servings since there are only 2 of us at home. This is where the AllRecipes ingredient scaling tool comes in handy. Pretty straightforward of an adjustment, except for that "5/8 eggs" part. I just used a full egg and increased the amount of sweet potatoes a bit, which I think worked out just fine.

The recipe didn't specify how to prepare the mashed sweet potatoes, so I decided to cook them in the oven: cubed, tossed lightly with olive oil, lightly sprinkled with salt, and roasted at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes. It's my favorite way to prepare sweet potatoes so I had to resist eating too much of the roasted cubes to make sure I had enough to mash. Anyway, I think the roasting method worked well for that component of this recipe.

Lastly, if I were making this for a crowd, I might split the oranges in half and fill each half with filling, instead of using one orange per serving. That way, the oranges would go further and not tip over too much while baking (though maybe that was a consequence of me overfilling mine—puffed up and got too top-heavy to stay upright, perhaps?).

Pretty good stuff overall—thanks for sharing the recipe!