Sweet Potato Casserole

Don and I both agreed that this was the best thing on the table for Thanksgiving this year! We ended up being so busy with preparations that I completely forgot to make the pie and didn't remember until we were sitting down to dinner. Don said though that these were so good we didn't even need pie, which made me feel a lot better! :) Our crumble/streuesel topping didn't turn out looks~wise (ended up more mushy then crumbly-I think our butter was too soft), but taste-wise was still awesome. 

No marshmallows on top this year, but that's probably for the best. While I like the look of the roasted marshmallows on top, the leftovers will keep better this way. Leftover marshmallow topping never works out. I've discovered from previous years that it gets all slimy and gross and we end up peeling it all off anyways. Our version ended up being a slight adaptation b/w this recipe and this recipe. which are pretty much identical except for a couple of ingredients and preparations. 
   

INGREDIENTS for SWEET POTATOES:

• 4 cups peeled and cubed sweet potato (This ended up being about 2 medium-large potatoes)
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 eggs beaten
• 2 Tbsp milk (Original recipe calls for heavy cream, but we didn't have any. If you happen to have cream on hand, I imagine it would be good. Milk worked out just fine though.)

INGREDIENTS for TOPPING:

• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup to 3/4 brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter softened (room temp.)

PREPARATION:

1. Put cubed sweet potatoes in medium saucepan with enough water to cover. Cook over medium high heat until tender; drain and mash.
2. Preheat the oven to 325.
3. In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the sweet potatoes and mix until smooth. Transfer to baking dish. (Both original recipes called for a 9x13 but we ended up using an 8x8 and it worked out great.)
4. In a medium bowl, mix the brown sugar and flour together. Cut butter into mixture with pastry blender  or fork until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Sprinkle over sweet potato mash.
5. Bake for 30 min. in preheated oven, or until topping is crisp and lightly browned.

Puffed Wheat Squares!

It's kind of funny, the things that you discover are 'Canadian' treats once you leave Canada. Like things you don't even give a thought to and sometimes don't even notice are missing. I remember one time a few years back when Don was working with a fellow Canadian at work he came back asking me about something called a 'Ninamus" and I had no idea what on earth he was describing. Turns out he was talking about Nanaimo Bars, hahaha. Eventually I will have to make those and share that here, but today, this is about Puffed Wheat Squares!

Who knew that these were a Canadian treat? I remember bringing it up one time saying I liked them and Don had no clue what they were. We then searched the internet for them and discovered that apparently it is something that is more common/popular in Canada. Curious and Curiouser! So for anyone who has not had them before, let me *formally* introduce you! They are similar to a Rice Krispie treat, but they are instead of Rice Krispies they use Puffed Wheat and instead of a marshmallow base, it's chocolate, yum! I found a couple of recipes and then narrowed it down to one where the amounts and ratios seemed most reasonable to me and tried it out last night. They were delicious and chewy! If not maybe a little bit too sweet? Checked a couple other recipes and here is my  ever so slightly adapted version of The Casual Bakers recipe. One of the wonderful things about these are that they whip up fast and you don't even have to use the oven at all! 

Oh, and one last note. I remembered this treat awhile back but never attempted it because I couldn't find any Puffed wheat locally - which could be why it's more popular in Canada, you can get Puffed wheat easily in your regular grocery store. Recently though, when Don and I were walking our local Walmart cereal aisle I noticed they had started carrying it! It was stashed away in the corner at the very end of the aisle! Success!!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/3 cup corn syrup
• 1/4 cup brown sugar (Original recipe called for 1/2 cup. I think it would be fine going for half that, Don thinks that's too extreme and maybe 1/3 cup?)
• 3 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 6-8 cups puffed wheat (I used 6, but I can see stretching it out over 1-2 cups more to spread out the concentration of chocolate/gooeyness. You'll have to try it out for yourself. Maybe start with 6 and then add more as you're mixing if you want to?)

PREPARATION:

1. Lightly grease a baking pan. We did ours in an 8x8, which left us with 2" thick squares. You could use a 9x13 I think for 1" squares if you're wanting to spread them out and cut more squares for serving a crowd.
2. Measure out puffed wheat into a large mixing bowl. I'd say you would only want it about half full with your puffed wheat or else when you mix it you'll send puffed wheat flying all over your counters!
3. Combine all  remaining ingredients except for the vanilla in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat while stirring constantly. Original recipe says to use a wooden spoon. I ended up using a silicon spatula. I think pretty much anything that can withstand the heat and won't add a taste to your base would be fine.
4. As soon as recipe starts boiling continue mixing over heat for 2 min. If you want your squares to stay chewy and gooey you have to be careful here. If you over boil your mixture it'll end up tough!
5. Remove mixture from heat and add in vanilla and stir a couple times to combine.
6. Pour entire mixture over puffed wheat in large mixing bowl and quickly stir to evenly coat.
7. Pour coated mixture into greased pan and press the mixture evenly into pan using spoon, or spatula. Original recipe says you can also use your hands to press into pan, but dang, that mixture is hot so I don't know if I would recommend doing it that way.
8. Cool, slice and keep stored in an air-tight container. I'm thinking I might try and do puffed wheat balls around the holidays similar to popcorn balls!