It is Ultimate Recipe Challenge time once again!! And this month, the challenge prompt was: SLOW COOKER! I was so excited about this month, since I have a lot of great crock pot recipes on the blog already and I couldn't wait to tackle this challenge.
There are also dozens of other slow cooker recipes from other challenge participants at the bottom of this post. Desserts, entrees, soups, appetizers and even breakfasts! If you are a fan of the slow cooker you need to scroll down and browse through them!
My recipe contribution is a Boston Market Sweet Potato Casserole knock off.
My family loves Boston Market and we even get their pre-prepared meals for Thanksgiving every year. My personal favorite side dish is their sweet potato casserole. It is so sweet, it is practically a dessert! If you love syrupy-sweet sweet potatoes, this is for you!
For my version of this casserole, almost all of the actual cooking takes place in the crock pot. I transferred the potatoes to a baking dish for the final step (so I could get toasted marshmallows) but if you didn’t mind that they weren’t browned, you could actually complete the entire dish in the crockpot. Since I wanted to get the final product as close to authentic Boston Market sweet potatoes I thought it was worth the extra work.
The ingredients are all easy to find. If you wanted a lighter version you could replace the heavy cream with regular milk.
The spice mix is something else you may want to modify for your tastes. I actually used Penzey's baking spice (which includes anise and allspice and cardamom in addition to the standard cinnamon and nutmeg) but pumpkin pie spice or even just the individual spices of cinnamon and nutmeg work well too.
When cutting up your potatoes make sure your pieces are about the same size so they cook evenly. Once they are cut up, coat them in a mixture of the remaining ingredients and throw them in the slow cooker for a few hours. (I use this slow cooker and I love it so much.. This post explains why.)
After they are soft I used a hand whisk to make my cooked potatoes creamy and fluffy. However, the traditional Boston Market version has chunks of potato so you could use a hand masher or even just a fork to smash them if you wanted that texture.
The crumb coating is what makes this casserole special. A mix of butter, brown sugar and oats, held together with a little flour. I used my hands to cut the butter into the dry ingredients to make the crumble, but you could use a pastry cutter, knives or even a couple of forks. Crumble it evenly over the surface.
The last layer is the marshmallows. A nice even covering is what you want.
Pop the pan in the preheated oven and let it bake until the marshmallows are toasted and the brown sugar crumble has crisped up. Serve immediately.
It reheats beautifully in the microwave as well. And if you want to make it ahead for Thanksgiving or some other formal meal, you can pre assemble it, and then just put it in the oven 30 minutes before the meal, just to reheat and serve.
Ingredients:
3.5 lbs. Sweet Potatoes (Peeled and Chopped)
1/2 stick butter (melted)
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. heavy cream
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. pumpkin pie or baking spice (or 1 tsp cinnamon & 1/2 tsp. nutmeg)
1 Tbsp. vanilla
Topping Ingredients:>br/> 2 c. mini marshmallows
1/2 c. flour
1/2 stick butter (Softened)
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. rolled oats
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Instructions:
- Peel and chop sweet potatoes into 1/2 inch pieces. Add to slow cooker.
- Combine butter, sugar, cream, salt, vanilla and spices and pour over sweet potatoes.
- Mix gently to coat the potatoes.
- Cook on low for 3.5-4 hours.
- Once potatoes are soft mash them gently with a potato masher or whip with a hand beater (depending on how creamy you want the final texture)
- In a separate bowl prepare crumb topping by combining butter, coats, cinnamon, flour and sugar with two forks or by hand. Topping should be slightly dry and crumbly.
- Spread potatoes in cooking spray coated baking dish.
- Sprinkle top with crumb topping and then add a layer of mini marshmallows
- Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes or until marshmallows are golden.
Now don't miss the other entries into this month's Ultimate Recipe Challenge:
For my version of this casserole, almost all of the actual cooking takes place in the crock pot. I transferred the potatoes to a baking dish for the final step (so I could get toasted marshmallows) but if you didn’t mind that they weren’t browned, you could actually complete the entire dish in the crockpot. Since I wanted to get the final product as close to authentic Boston Market sweet potatoes I thought it was worth the extra work.
The ingredients are all easy to find. If you wanted a lighter version you could replace the heavy cream with regular milk.
The spice mix is something else you may want to modify for your tastes. I actually used Penzey's baking spice (which includes anise and allspice and cardamom in addition to the standard cinnamon and nutmeg) but pumpkin pie spice or even just the individual spices of cinnamon and nutmeg work well too.
When cutting up your potatoes make sure your pieces are about the same size so they cook evenly. Once they are cut up, coat them in a mixture of the remaining ingredients and throw them in the slow cooker for a few hours. (I use this slow cooker and I love it so much.. This post explains why.)
After they are soft I used a hand whisk to make my cooked potatoes creamy and fluffy. However, the traditional Boston Market version has chunks of potato so you could use a hand masher or even just a fork to smash them if you wanted that texture.
The crumb coating is what makes this casserole special. A mix of butter, brown sugar and oats, held together with a little flour. I used my hands to cut the butter into the dry ingredients to make the crumble, but you could use a pastry cutter, knives or even a couple of forks. Crumble it evenly over the surface.
The last layer is the marshmallows. A nice even covering is what you want.
Pop the pan in the preheated oven and let it bake until the marshmallows are toasted and the brown sugar crumble has crisped up. Serve immediately.
It reheats beautifully in the microwave as well. And if you want to make it ahead for Thanksgiving or some other formal meal, you can pre assemble it, and then just put it in the oven 30 minutes before the meal, just to reheat and serve.
Ingredients:
3.5 lbs. Sweet Potatoes (Peeled and Chopped)
1/2 stick butter (melted)
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. heavy cream
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. pumpkin pie or baking spice (or 1 tsp cinnamon & 1/2 tsp. nutmeg)
1 Tbsp. vanilla
Topping Ingredients:>br/> 2 c. mini marshmallows
1/2 c. flour
1/2 stick butter (Softened)
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. rolled oats
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Instructions:
Now don't miss the other entries into this month's Ultimate Recipe Challenge:
