Thanksgiving Yam Bake-Off!

With Thanksgiving fast approaching our thoughts are starting to drift towards all the delicious carbs and sugars we will soon be consuming! Now one of our FAVORITE dishes at Thanksgiving are YAMS! We both have very different recipes for this particular dish so we decided to have a Yam-Off to see who's is better, with the judges being our children...DUN! DUN! DUN!

Okay so poor, poor Sarah never grew up having yams for the simple fact that her mother consistently catered to her husbands pretty bland palette, which did not include this sweet spud dish. Her world changed forever when she married and tasted the dish for the first time and went on a quest to find the bestest yam dish she could find! Here is Sarah's recipe for Thanksgiving yams.

Sarah's Thanksgiving Yams

FILLING

• 2 eggs

• 1/2 C (1 stick) butter, melted

• 1/2 C milk

• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

• 1/2 C brown sugar

TOPPINGS

• 1/2 C brown sugar

• 1/2 C flour

• 1 C chopped pecans

• 1/4 C butter, melted

• 5 C miniature marshmallows (or as many marshmallows as you see fit)

MAKE THE FILLING

1. Fill a large saucepan halfway with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add your cubed sweet potatoes and boil for about 20 minutes, or until a fork can go easily through the center. Drain and mash.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and coat a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and set aside.

2. Add the eggs, butter, milk, brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice to the mashed potatoes and mix well. Pour into prepared baking dish and spread into an even layer.

MAKE THE TOPPING

1. In a medium bowl, combine the brown sugar, flour, pecans, and melted butter. Mix and pour evenly over the sweet potatoes (there will be gaps). Bake for 25 minutes, adding the marshmallows for the last five minutes of baking until golden brown. Serve warm!

So unlike Sarah, Niki was very fortunate have delicious yams EVERY Thanksgiving. In fact, since everyone in her family (including extended) loved yams so much, her parents would make TWO 9x13 pans of yams and it was a fight to get a second or third helping! This is the recipe that Niki grew up with and every time she eats them, they bring her back to the simpler times of being a kid with all her cousins.

Niki's Thanksgiving Yams

INGREDIENTS

• 5 lbs sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks OR 6 cans (29 oz), cut into chunks

• 2T butter, melted

• 1T brown sugar

• 1tsp orange zest

• 3 T orange juice, frozen from constraint

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1 10 oz bag mini marshmallows

MAKE THE FILLING

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and coat a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and set aside.

2. Fill a large saucepan halfway with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add your cubed sweet potatoes and boil for about 20 minutes, or until a fork can go easily through the center. Drain and put into pan. *If canned, drain cans and pour cubed yams into pan. With knife, half yams into bite size. Repeat until pan is almost full.

1. In a small mixing bowl, add melted butter, brown sugar, orange zest, frozen orange juice, and salt. Mix until smooth; put in microwave for a few seconds if butter starts to harden. Drizzle mixture over yams. *TIP: I don't do the full 1tsp of orange zest. I do a little less *TIP: Don't use orange juice. Be sure that it is from the frozen can.

1. Bake for 30 minutes. Add the marshmallows; be sure to cover entire top. Switch oven to Broil and put pan back into oven until golden brown. Serve right away and enjoy!

So the judges results are in! Our kids were split 50/50 on whose yams they prefer so you'd be safe going with either of these recipes. If you want more a citrus and zesty recipe, than go with Niki's. If you want a more sweetly spiced, creamy recipe, than go with Sarah's! Let us know if you try either and how they turned out!

*Both of these recipes are pictured with the recipe cut in half for an 8x8 serving size.

Happy Thanksgiving!