Blanche’s So Easy Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Marshmallows

I will readily admit I never tasted this dish, familiar to most, until Thanksgiving with my perspective in-laws. Traditions are not to be trifled with, and this recipe has become a comfortingly sweet staple on our table...and embarrassingly easy as well.

My mother-in-law, Blanche, always one for shortcuts, used canned sweet potatoes. And if canned is equally delicious and less time consuming, why not? But, if freshly baked sweet potatoes are your thing, please feel free to fiddle about. You can roast them the day before to make your life easier. Peel them once cool and refrigerate until you commence cooking. You will need about 3 1/2 pounds of sweet potatoes. I’ll use canned potatoes in a pinch, (Bruce’s Yams), as the rush of a resplendent Thanksgiving meal begs for a dish without breaking a sweat, and the sweet potato mixture can be made a day ahead.

MASHED SWEET POTATOES AND MARSHMALLOWS
Serves 8

2 large canned sweet potatoes, drained and mashed (40 oz.)
1 can crushed pineapple, drained (14 oz.) reserve juice on the side
1/ 4 cup brown sugar, more to taste
marshmallows, large (16 oz. bag)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl combine mashed sweet potatoes, crushed pineapple and brown sugar. Add some of the reserved juice and additional brown sugar if needed, to taste. Tip entire mixture into a 9 x 13 x 2-inch baking dish. Heat in pan for 30 minutes. Top with marshmallows. Bake another few minutes, watching closely, until the billowy white pillows begin to brown, swelling over the top.