Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

This might be controversial, but I’m a sweet potatoes over white potatoes person any day of the week. Baked, roasted, mashed, fries, tater tots, hash browns - I always prefer sweet potatoes.

Especially during the Holiday season. I think I would be completely content if we only had sweet potato casserole at Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. And since the Holidays are still a few months away, these Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes are a little bite of Thanksgiving in the summer.

Regardless of the month or time of year, this recipe is a heavenly sweet and salty side dish. If you know me, you know I LOVE a sweet and savory combo - which probably explains why I’m so passionate about my sweet potato over white potato stance.

But seriously, baked sweet potatoes stuffed with crispy bacon, pecans, whipped brown sugar goat cheese, and a maple mustard bourbon sauce - these are so. dang. good. They’re also pretty simple and don’t require too many ingredients to make - so it’s an all-around win :)

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

serves 4

• 2 large sweet potatoes

Whipped Goat Cheese

• 4 oz goat cheese

• 2 tbs. cream or half and half

• 2 tbs. brown sugar

Maple Mustard Bourbon Sauce

• 1/3 cup maple syrup

• 1 tbs. Dijon mustard

• 2 oz bourbon

• 4 tbs. butter

• Pinch salt

Toppings

• 2 slices pepper bacon, cooked until crispy and crumbled

• 1/2 cup roasted pecans, roughly chopped

• Flakey sea salt

Pre-heat the oven to 450ºF.

Clean and scrub your sweet potatoes and pat dry. Poke a fork in the skin around each sweet potato, making several markings in each. Wrap loosely in tin foil and bake in the oven until tender and cooked through (about an hour).

While the sweet potatoes are baking: In a saucepan over high heat, melt the butter and maple syrup together until combined and a low boil has formed. Whisk in the Dijon mustard until smooth. Pour in the bourbon, still over high heat, and allow the bourbon to cook off for about 1 minute. Once it settles down, turn the heat down to a low simmer and let cook until thickened, around 2-3 minutes. Finish with a pinch of salt. Set aside

Whip together the goat cheese with the cream/half and half and brown sugar until light and fluffy.

Cut the baked potatoes in half lengthwise and place on a baking sheet. Scoop out a little bit of the cooked potato out of the center of each half. Drizzle some of the maple mustard bourbon sauce in each half. Fill with the 2 tablespoons of the whipped goat cheese and top with the crumbled bacon and pecans dispersed evenly on each potato half. Drizzle with more maple mustard bourbon sauce.

Place the sweet potatoes back in the oven for another 10 minutes until the goat cheese and maple sauce are bubbly. Top with a sprinkle of flakey salt and serve warm.