Melt in your mouth candied yams recipe. A great accompaniment to your Thanksgiving turkey. This recipe is easy and can be made days ahead and then popped in the oven on turkey day.
Although we here in the U.S, call any orange fleshed tuber a yam, what is actually harvested in the United States are sweet potatoes. They have been mistakenly, or not, mislabeled by the federal government as yams, since colonial times. Most yams are native to Africa and Asia and don’t usually find their way to the U.S.
But, a sweet potato by any other name is still a delicious compliment to almost any meal, especially a Thanksgiving turkey feast.
I have yet to prepare this candied yams recipe and not have rave reviews from all. It has been our families favorite candied sweet potato recipe for many many tasteful years.
We once included some neighbors in our Thanksgiving feast some years ago. They had this sweet little girl. But, right from the start I knew she was going to be sweet trouble. As we set the food on the table she began, “Oh, I don’t like this and I never eat that.” By the time she was done giving us her dos and don’ts of culinary dislikes, it seemed she was not going to dine with the rest of us. Her mother gave her a piece of turkey and some mashed potatoes. She saw someone take a spoonful of sweet potatoes and said “What are those orange things?” Her mother told her the were candied yams and she wouldn’t like them. That’s all she had to hear, I guess. She wanted some candied yams. Well, as soon as she was given some, she proceeded to eat them and we never heard another word out of her until it was time for dessert. Of course, that’s another story for another time.
CANDIED YAMS RECIPE
Ingredients
- 6 medium size sweet potatoes, unpeeled
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup butter (half of a stick) I use a 1/2 cup of butter, but then I only make yams once or twice a year so I splurge
Instructions
- wash and scrub potatoes. Place in a large pan and cover with water. Place pan uncovered over high heat and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a active simmer until potatoes are done, usually about 20 minutes after they come to a boil. Potatoes are done, when pierced with a fork and the potato slides off easily. I cook my sweet potatoes all the way even though I plan on putting them in the oven for 30 or so minutes. I feel they absorb more of the sticky sweet glaze made by the butter and sugar mixture. Remove potatoes from pan and place in large colander to cool.
- When sweet potatoes have cooled, peel the skins off and slice them in rounds of about a half inch thick. Layer half of the potatoes in a large baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle sugar over them. Dot with 1/2 of the butter. Layer remaining potatoes and top with the rest of the sugar and butter. Cover baking dish with foil and bake in 400° oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 15 minutes to create a tantalizing glaze.
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