Perfectly sweet potatoes: Think outside the pumpkin with Sweet Potato Crisp dessert

It’s that time of year again when everyone remembers that sweet potatoes exist. They have, in fact, been eaten by humans for about 5,000 years, originating in what is now Ecuador. In North America, they’re sometimes called yams, though they are biologically distinct. Sweet potatoes are only distantly related to potatoes and are actually genetically closest to morning glories.

I grew up eating sweet potatoes year-round, usually baked, split open and buttered. We ate the peels as well as the soft orange insides. I love chewing on the papery skins of a baked sweet potato, although my husband and daughter won’t touch them. Lightweights.

Sweet potatoes most often appear as a side dish on the Thanksgiving table. The classic sweet potato casserole is pureed, sweetened within an inch of its life and adorned with marshmallows. I serve sweet potatoes on Thanksgiving, too, but I don’t mash them; instead, I slice, boil, glaze and bake them. At our house, we are not afraid of actual sweet potato shapes.

My complaint about sweet potato casserole is that it’s too sweet. It’s often treated like pumpkin, which is naturally rather flavorless and needs shoring up with sugar. Sweet potatoes already have a wonderful sweetness and flavor without any enhancements but there’s enough sugar in most sweet potato casseroles to out-calorie any chocolate cake. It’s time we just gave in and said, “Fine. I’ve been pretending all along that sweet potato casserole is a side dish, but I can’t live a lie anymore. It’s a dessert.”

So that’s my disclaimer, because I tried and failed to make a sweet potato dessert that wasn’t too sweet.

I found several recipes for sweet potato crisp and sweet potato crumble, made more or less the same way you’d make a fruit crisp or crumble. (If you care to mince words, crisp has oatmeal in the streusel topping and crumble doesn’t.) I do love a crunchy topping of rolled oats but if you don’t like oats (or think oats with sweet potatoes is weird), then substitute crushed pecans or hazelnuts for the oats. Or be like me and use both! The more the nuttier, I always say.

Here’s how I made it, with a note on how you can make it better: I roasted three large-ish sweet potatoes for about an hour at 375 degrees. I checked for doneness by poking them with a fork; I wanted them really soft so they’d puree more easily. I put them in the fridge, where they cooled in about 20 minutes. I peeled off the papery skins by hand. This was a little sticky and time-consuming but also kind of fun.

I put the peeled sweet potatoes in a large bowl along with half a stick of butter, cream, brown sugar, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, salt and two eggs. I used a hand mixer to blend everything until it was as smooth as it could be. One of the recipes for sweet potato crisp recommended using a potato masher for a chunkier texture. If you like mashing things energetically (an underrated pastime, in my opinion) then mash away, my friend. Mash away.

I spread the sweet potato mixture into a buttered 9-by-13-inch baking dish. It made a very thin layer and I almost transferred it to an 8-by-10-inch dish or a pie dish, but continued in spite of my misgivings. (And that’s precisely how I got where I am today. In fact, I’ll add that to my list of epitaph ideas, right after, “I’d rather be reading this.”)

I made the oat-y topping by mixing half a stick of room-temperature butter with brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, rolled oats (not quick-cooking oats, because whole oat grains have a better chance of crisping to a crunch during baking) and a scant handful of chopped pecans, hoping my husband wouldn’t notice them because he hates pecans. I mixed it together by hand until the butter was evenly distributed and the texture was nice and crumbly.

I sprinkled the topping onto the sweet potatoes and was distressed about the streusel-to-sweet potato ratio. The streusel layer was thicker than the sweet potato layer, but the streusel-sprinkling was done and there was no going back. You can’t unsprinkle your streusel. (Note to self: Another epitaph idea?)

I baked the crisp at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. After it cooled a bit, I took an experimental bite. Fiddlesticks! It was too sweet. The sweet potato layer was not thick enough to contrast with the streusel, so each mouthful was mostly topping. So disappointing. But then my husband came home and tried it and declared it delicious, especially with big whirls of whipped cream. I chuckled quietly to myself about the pecans.

There’s no accounting for taste, I suppose. But I have amended the recipe for you sweet potato-curious folks out there. I increased the amount of sweet potatoes and decreased the sugar. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get busy. Those misgivings won’t ignore themselves.

Sweet Potato Crisp

5 medium-large sweet potatoes, baked and peeled

¼ cup (1/2 stick) softened butter

1/3 cup whipping cream from a pint; save the rest for whipping

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

½ teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

For the oat streusel:

¼ cup (1/2 stick) butter

1/3 cup brown sugar (not packed)

1/3 cup flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2/3 cup rolled oats (not quick-cooking)

1/3 cup pecans (optional)

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 9-by-13-inch pan and set aside. Bake sweet potatoes for 45 minutes to an hour or until they’ll very soft, then remove them and turn the oven down to 350 degrees. (Pro tip: Place sweet potatoes on a pan or parchment-lined tray because they leak as they bake.) Let the sweet potatoes get cool enough to touch, then remove the skins by hand. (This will be sticky and a little fiddly, but persevere.) Put peeled potatoes in a large bowl. Add half a stick of butter, cream, brown sugar, vanilla, spices, salt and eggs. Use a hand mixer to blend thoroughly. Spread the sweet potato mixture into the baking pan. In a separate bowl, cut together half a stick of butter, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, oats and pecans. Sprinkle over sweet potatoes. Bake for 30 minutes, until toasty brown on top. Let cool slightly and serve warm with whipping cream.