Candied Sweet Potatoes, Kicked Up

What's your favorite Thanksgiving dish?  As far as turkey goes, I'll have the white meat, please.  Mashed potatoes? Sure. Gravy? Why not...just a little.  Stuffing?  No.  I'll skip stuffing any day. I know, I'm weird.  (I've been told that I made great stuffing-- but I eat just one bite of it).  What I really hold out for are sweet potatoes.   As a kid, I could hardly wait for sweet potatoes with melted marshmallows, and that golden crust crunch.  The best.  It wasn't until I was all grown up, that I first made this very recipe,  while watching Emeril Lagasse's Food Network show back in 2002.   This recipe is for grownups.  It has fresh orange juice, vanilla bean and-- bourbon.  The funny thing is, I'm not a bourbon drinker.  Never have been.  But, this recipe has become a regular on my Thanksgiving table, now that my son and his cousin are all grown up.   I begin with 8 sweet potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces.  Of course, we need brown sugar.

Next, water, fresh squeezed orange juice (not concentrate) and orange zest.

To me, sweet potatoes and cinnamon are meant for one another.  I received a jar of Red Ape Cinnamon a year ago, and I really like it a lot.  Is cinnamon just cinnamon? Well, yes, and no.

So, this is the cinnamon that I buy now-- because I admire and respect that their product is  all about being sustainable and organic products. I like value and support that.

Two teaspoons of cinnamon, some salt and vanilla bean.  Well, folks, I also received a jar of Singing Dog Vanilla Bean Paste from the same lovely folks who sent me Red Ape Cinnamon.  That was a year ago, and I have continued to buy this product as well.  If you've never used vanilla bean paste, it will become your new best friend.

Vanilla bean paste is thick and tastes just as though you scraped an expensive vanilla bean.  Your end product will have those lovely dark flecks of vanilla bean. Trust me. I love Red Dog Vanilla brand, not because I got to try it for free-- I like it because it's also organic, sustainable and it's a quality product.

So, now the potatoes are cooking away with all those lovely note of orange, cinnamon and vanilla. 

One they are fork tender, remove the potatoes and place them into an oven-proof dish.  We're not through, though.  The bourbon!  As I said, I don't drink bourbon.  So, I buy those small bottles at my local liquor store. (Clever, eh?)

I only need 1/2 cup, which I now add to the sauce. We want to boil the sauce, until it reduces to a syrup.  Be prepared, this can take as much as 30 minutes (as opposed to the original recipe).

I like to mark a wooden spoon with a rubber band, so I know where the liquid is at.  Then, I can tell how much the syrup has reduced.

The sauce coats the back of a spoon. See? There are the vanilla bean flecks.  I told you!

Pour the syrup over the potatoes and then place into a preheated oven at 375F.  Bake for 10-15 minutes, until browned.  (I would think you could do all these steps a day or two ahead and then bake on Thanksgiving Day.) Remove from the oven and add a butter (I use about 1/2 stick, though the recipe says to use a full stick) until incorporated.

VERDICT:  I love these sweet potatoes.  Honestly, you don't taste booze.  There's almost a caramel flavor, with a hint of bourbon...just a kiss.  The balance of orange and sweet vanilla, with the cinnamon is truly a flavor party in your mouth.  Anyone who eats these, always raves about them.  I don't miss my marshmallows one bit.

The very nice folks at Singing Dog Vanilla have offered to give away:

A 4 ounce jar of their Vanilla Bean Paste and...

A 2 ounce bottle of their Pure Vanilla Extract.

All you have to do is leave a comment on my blog page (not my Fan Page), and share what recipe you most love to use vanilla bean or vanilla extract?  For a second entry, please like their Fan Page, and leave them a comment that you are entering my giveaway-- and leave an extra comment telling that you did so.    I will randomly choose a winner on Sunday, November 20th.  Sorry, but I can only ship within the Continental United States.  Please be sure that you have an email address so I can contact you-- anonymous comments cannot be accepted.  Giveaway Entries have closed. Thank you for entering.

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Good luck, and the printable recipe is at the end of this post.