candied orange sweet potatoes

For the first time in my life I am hosting a holiday dinner on Thanksgiving and am trying out a bunch of new side recipes for the big day. First guinea pig recipe is these candied orange mashed sweet potatoes. They came out really tasty (but definitely on the sweet side), and are very simple to make. They take quite a bit of time to cook but the prep time was pretty quick. I think this will definitely be one of my sweet potato dishes. Serves 6-8.

What You'll Need:

- 1 3 lb or 2 1/2 lb bag of sweet potatoes, peeled & sliced
- 1 orange
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons orange juice (or 1 fresh squeezed orange)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- nutmeg, cinnamon, and brown sugar (no real measurements, just to sprinkle on top to taste)

Directions:
1. Layer sweet potatoes in baking dish.
2. Top with 1 very thinly sliced orange.

3. In saucepan, melt butter with sugar.
4. Stir in the orange juice and vanilla extract.
5. Cover and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.
6. Uncover and bake 30/45 minutes or more until tender and browned, spooning sauce over potatoes half way through. (This ended up being another hour for me), but the softer/mushier the potatoes are the better).
7. Sprinkle nutmeg, cinnamon, & a pinch of brown sugar on top. I thought it was sweet enough so I left out the  brown sugar, but add in as much as you want of any of these to taste.

8. You can either leave as is, or now start mashing into mashed potatoes.

Stay posted for more holiday side dishes leading up to Thanksgiving!