Here is a confession: Until recently, I'd never had the classic marshmallow-topped sweet potato casserole. Sure, we had sweet potatoes on Thanksgiving but they were roasted and not marshmallow topped.

Apparently the sweet potato fairy decided that I needed to try this dish. So I looked up some recipes. Most of the recipes I found started with a can of candied yams. To that, they added copious amounts of sugar or coca cola/ginger ale and, of course, marshmallows. I know that this is classically a really sweet side dish. However, for my tastes, the recipes I found looked a bit too sweet. I decided that I wanted to honor this dish but make it without using a canned sweet potatoes, soda or a ton of sugar.

It turns out, this is ridiculously easy to do. I boiled my sweet potatoes until they were just tender. Then I cut them into thick slices and layered them with dark brown sugar, butter and spices. I added a splash of orange juice and baked until the potatoes were soft. Then I topped the casserole with mini-marshmallows and broiled until the marshmallows were golden brown. It looked so pretty!

And the end result, if I do say so myself, was pretty yummy! Even without the canned yams and abundance of sugar, it was still sweet but that is the point, right? As I munched on it, I thought, "This would be great warm and spooned over vanilla ice cream." Turns out, it was! If you don't want to make this as a side dish for Thanksgiving, consider making it as a dessert during the winter.

Here is the recipe:

Marshmallow Sweet Potato Casserole

5 large sweet potatoes

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 Tablespoons butter, cold

1/3 cup orange juice

Mini marshmallows

1. In a large pot, boil sweet potatoes until tender. (A knife should slide easily into the center of the potatoes but the potato should still feel a little firm. You don't want them to feel mushy. Test them after 20 minutes of boiling.)

2. Fill a large bowl with ice water. One-by-one slip the potatoes into the ice water and remove their skins. (The skins slide off easily under water. Simply make a small cut in the potato and the skin will peel off. It is like magic!)
3. Cut potatoes into 1/2 inch slices. Set aside.

4. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, spices and butter. Rub together until mixture is chunky and butter is evenly distributed throughout the sugar.

5. Layer the potatoes in the bottom of a medium casserole dish. (Use any dish that is large enough to hold 5 potatoes. This size and shape of the dish doesn't really matter for this recipe.) Sprinkle 1/2 the sugar mixture over the potatoes. Repeat and sprinkle the remaining sugar mixture over the top of the potatoes. Pour the orange juice evenly over the top layer of potatoes.

6. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes or until sweet potatoes are tender and the juices are boiling.*
7. Remove casserole dish from the oven and turn on the broiler.

8. Cover the casserole with a layer of marshmallows.

9. Put dish under broiler until marshmallows are golden brown.

Serves 6