Baked Sweet Potato

Baked Sweet Potato

Sure, the menu says “baked sweet potato,” but you’re actually getting a sweet and tender red-skinned yam underneath all that yummy melted butter and cinnamon/sugar. And don’t just get any yam for this top secret recipe. You want to use garnet yams, if you have a choice. Then be sure to cook them long enough that the sugar in the yams begins to squirt out and burn in a couple of spots. Each yam should be tender, but not mushy. The skin on the outside will turn from red to greyish-brown, and inside it will be a hearty shade of black.

4 garnet yams
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup whipped butter

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake yams for 45 to 75 minutes (bigger yams take longer to cook). When they are done, the outside will have darkened and the inside will be soft. You may see liquid from the potato oozing out and charring. When the potato is sliced open, the inside of the skin will be charred black from the caramelizing sugar in the potato. This is a perfectly cooked potato.
3. To serve, slice a potato down the center. Add two tablespoons of whipped butter, then sprinkle some cinnamon/sugar over the top.

Makes 4 servings.