THANKSGIVING TWICE BAKED PUMPKIN-SWEET POTATOES

Thanksgiving Twice Baked Pumpkin-Sweet Potatoes image

Provided by Megan Todd

Time 1h45m

Number Of Ingredients 11

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4 medium sweet potatoes, skins on and cleaned
4 oz cream cheese
4 Tbsp butter, softened
4 Tbsp brown sugar, light
1/2 c pumpkin puree or pumpkin butter
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon, optional
1 Tbsp ginger, fresh grated
1 tsp vanilla
chopped pecans (optional)
crumbled crisp bacon (optional)

Steps:

1. Preheat Oven to 400 degrees F. Clean potatoes, be sure to remove all string roots. Poke with a fork several times. (A nice way to take out your frustrations, haha.)
2. Line a cookie sheet with foil. Place sweet potatoes on the lined cookie sheet. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil sparingly over potatoes. (optional)
3. Bake @ 400 degrees F for one hour or until a fork can easily go in and out of the potato.
4. Remove potatoes from the oven. Leave oven on. Allow to cool for 15 minutes.
5. Cut potatoes in half.
6. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out the meat of the potato leaving skin intact & place in a bowl. I leave a bit of the meat of potato on the edges to keep the skin from tearing. Place potatoes back on baking sheet, skin side down.
7. Add room temp cream cheese, butter, pumpkin or pumpkin butter, freshly grated ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, brown sugar, and vanilla to the sweet potatoes.
8. Using a potato masher, combine all ingredients until you have a nice smooth mixture.
9. Spoon the mixture back into the potato skins. You can add a bit more fresh grated ginger to each potato if you prefer.
10. If preparing ahead of time, stop here and refrigerate overnight, allow to sit at room temp for 15-20 minutes before baking. If baking right away, bake an additional 20-30 minutes.
11. Sprinkle with optional chopped walnuts & crumbled crisp bacon. Serve hot.