This will change the way you think about sweet potatoes. One, in that sweet potatoes are good for you. They are, but whole milk, cream and butter do a pretty good job neutralizing that fit and feel good feeling you get after eating a baked sweet potato. Two, that sweet potatoes are the easiest thing to make. I usually give them a quick scrub, wrap them in tin foil and bake in a 400°F oven for about an hour, or until they give easily at the touch. It’s impossible to over-bake them and you don’t even dirty a dish. Here, there’s some prep work to be done and you may dirty a dish or two.

For those who keep reading, you will be rewarded. 

This recipe comes from Ina’s Garten’s Cooking for Jeffrey and was inspired by a dish at one of their favorite restaurants in New York, ABC Cocina by Jean-Georges Vongerichten. I think if you eat Ina’s version, or the lighter spin-off I offer below, you can say you’ve pretty much been to ABC Cocina!

Sweet potatoes are pureed with chipotle peppers and maple syrup, cream and butter, then baked in a casserole. It’s spicy. It’s sweet. It’s everything nice. I’m loving this juxtaposing spicy-sweet flavor combination, and think it’s something we don’t typically see in “classic” American cooking. We usually keep spicy with savory dishes and sweet with desserts, but I’m beginning to see how one can accentuate, rather than neutralize, the other without competition for attention. The chocolate chip cookies with roasted chile peppers Lila and I made at Christmas are another example where this combination works.

I’ve adapted Ina’s recipe here for two, with enough for left-overs.

Chipotle Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Serves 4

2 pounds sweet potatoes (about 3 medium-sized potatoes)
½ cup whole milk
½ cup heavy cream
2-3 chipotle peppers in adobo, minced
1 tablespoon, plus 1 teaspoon adobo sauce (from the can)
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Pierce potatoes all over with a fork and lay on the foil. Place baking sheet in the oven and bake potatoes for an hour or more until they are tender to the touch and can be easily sliced through with a knife.

Let potatoes cool while you prepare the secret sauce. Combine milk, cream, chipotles and adobo sauce in a small saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and let mixture simmer for 5 minutes. The milk may start to curdle, but do not be deterred.

Once potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel away the skin and put the flesh in a medium mixing bowl. (I love to eat the skins plain or I skip this step and keep the skins in my mashed potatoes.) Using a hand-held mixer, begin blending sweet potatoes and add milk and chipotle mixture. Add maple syrup and butter and continue mixing until combined. Season with salt.

Spread potatoes into an 8 x 8-inch baking dish and place into the preheated oven. Bake for 30 minutes, or until heated through. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve hot.

Lighter version: I tried substituting skim milk for the milk and half and half for the cream, finding the mixture curdled a little more when heated and final version didn’t have as much structure as the original version with whole milk and heavy cream; but it was still delicious.