Sweet Potatoes à la Mode with Salted Maple Pecans
Warm, fluffy sweet potatoes are seasoned with cozy spices, then topped with cool vanilla ice cream and crunchy salted maple pecans. It’s an easy, better-for-you dessert with an irresistible mix of flavors, temperatures and textures.
Ingredients
For the Sweet Potatoes:
- 2 sweet potatoes, about 10 ounces each
- ½ cup pecan halves
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon flaky sea salt, like fleur de sel or kosher salt
- 4 teaspoons butter, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 pint light vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt
For the Sweet Potato Spice Blend (makes ~1½ tablespoons):*
- 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon ground clove
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375˚F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Scrub the sweet potatoes and pat them dry with paper towels. Then prick each of them with a fork multiple times to create little holes for steam to escape. Add them to the baking sheet and bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until the potatoes are completely soft and the juices start to slightly drip onto the pan.
- While the potatoes are baking, make the spice blend and salted maple pecans.
To make the spice blend:
- In a small bowl, stir together all of the spice ingredients and set aside for later.
To make the salted maple pecans:
- Lay the pecans on a small baking sheet and place in the oven (with the potatoes) for about 8 minutes, or until slightly browned and fragrant. Remove the pan from the oven, allow them to slightly cool and roughly them chop up. Then add them to a small bowl along with the maple syrup and ½ teaspoon flaked sea salt or kosher salt and mix until well combined.
- Line the same small baking sheet with parchment paper and mist the paper with nonstick oil spray so the pecans don’t stick. Add the maple-and-salt-coated pecans to the sheet, spread them in an even layer, and return them to the oven for an additional 8 minutes, stirring halfway through. Remove from the oven and allow the nuts to cool and harden.
- When the potatoes are done cooking, splice them each in half lengthwise. Then, using a fork, scrape and fluff the insides, being careful to leave the outside skin intact. Add 1 teaspoon butter, ¼ teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon spice blend to each potato half and continue to carefully mix and mash until combined.
- Transfer to a serving dish and top each sweet potato half with a scoop of ice cream, a pinch of spice blend and 2 tablespoons of salted maple pecans.
Notes
Nutrition for 1 serving (½ sweet potato with ½-cup scoop ice cream and 2 tablespoons pecans)
Nutrition Information per serving
Calories: 290Carbohydrates: 39gProtein: 5gTotal Fat: 4g— Unsaturated Fat: 3.5g— Saturated Fat: 0.5gCholesterol: 35mgSodium: 830mgFiber: 4gTotal Sugar: 20g— Natural Sugar: 12g— Added Sugar: 8gVitamin A: 11164IUVitamin C: 9mgCalcium: 131mg
Nutrition information is calculated using a leading industry software. That being said, brands can vary, and there may be slight fluctuations in the numbers.