Maple Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Maple Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Fact: I don't much follow recipes to the letter. The only exception to that being baked goods when I (usually) stick to the written word. 

Confession: I'm bad about serving something to Outdoorman that causes him to say to the girls, "like it? Enjoy, because you'll never have it again!" I usually ad lib and tweak recipes with whatever I have on hand in the kitchen so repetition is kinda tricky.

I've been asked a time or two for this sweet potato recipe so, once and for all time, I'm going to try to nail it down. (Feel free, though, to ad lib to your heart's content...be a rule breaker.)

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Must haves: fresh sweet potatoes, pure maple syrup, Grey Poupon dijon mustard (trust me on that brand), butter (absolutely not margarine...as far as I'm concerned that stuff can be taken off the market. EWW), brown sugar (which I forgot to picture with the other ingredients because I'm a newbie at nailing down recipes), ground cinnamon, kosher salt and a dash or two of ground pepper.

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I used 3 large sweet potatoes, which would feed a hungry family of about 5 or 6 as a side dish.

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Cube the sweet potatoes in roughly 1" squares. Enjoy the upper arm workout you'll experience as you do the cubing. Think cutting a coconut instead of a regular potato and you'll be less exasperated at the experience. 

You'll be pleased with yourself if you cover a large cookie sheet with aluminum foil before roasting thereby making clean up much easier. Just imagine I did that here.

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It's important that you try to keep the cubes in one layer so that they all are exposed to the heat evenly. Now whisk together the sauce ingredients.

Melt one stick of butter and add 1/2 cup of real maple syrup. Whisk in a heaping tablespoon of light brown sugar, 1/3 cup Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and a sprinkle or two of ground black pepper.

Toss everything together, coating all sides well. Bake or roast at 375 degrees, stirring to turn cubes every 20 minutes or so, until done to your liking. My liking has them just a tad crispy on the outside and very tender on the inside. This roasting process takes about an hour.

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Looks like the oven could stand a good cleaning, but the sweet potatoes are yummy.

Ingredients

3 large sweet potatoes, cubed

1 stick melted butter

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1/3 cup Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard

1 heaping tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

dash or two ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place cubed sweet potatoes on aluminum foil covered baking sheet. Whisk remaining ingredients and toss with potatoes. Bake, stirring occasionally until desired doneness, about an hour.

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