One of the great Thanksgiving side dishes has to be Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes. You will want to plan in advance, cooking the sweet potatoes and then piping the mix into the potato shells. Final production is quick and can be finished up just before serving.
- 14 (each about 8 ounces) sweet potatoes
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 3/4-inch-thick slices
- 1 3/4 cups packed light-brown sugar
- 4 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
- 2/3 cup pecans, toasted, coarsely chopped
- 40 large marshmallows, halved crosswise
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prick sweet potatoes with a fork. Bake until soft, about 50 minutes. Let cool slightly on a rack.
- Cut a lengthwise slit in potatoes almost all the way through, leaving about 1 inch at each end intact. Scoop out flesh, leaving a 1/2-inch border on skins. Put flesh in a medium nonreactive bowl, then transfer half to a food processor. Process until smooth; return to bowl. Stir in sour cream, 6 tablespoons softened butter, 1 cup brown sugar, lemon juice, and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper.
- Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. Transfer sweet potato mixture in batches to a pastry bag fitted with a very large round tip. Pipe mixture into 12 of the potato shells, dividing evenly; discard remaining 2 shells. Filled shells can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 1 day. Just before serving, top with remaining 3/4 cup brown sugar, the sliced butter, and pecans; arrange marshmallows on top. Bake on a rimmed baking sheet until hot and marshmallows are golden brown, 7 to 10 minutes.