My new recipe

Tonight we're having a recipe swap for the ladies of our Sunday Bible Study class. Almost 20 of us signed up to bring our favorite dishes to make the perfect holiday meal. When the sign-up paper finally made it around to me, there were a ton of ladies already signed up for dessert and appetizers. There were several main dishes and salads already spoken for, but there were plenty of spaces left for side dishes. It looked like I was bringing a side dish. The only problem is that I didn't have an obvious go-to recipe for a side dish and I had to write down what I was bringing on the sign-up sheet. Oh, what to do?!? So I wrote down "sweet potatoes" and hoped that I'd be able to find something fabulous between then and the party.

A couple of days ago, I actually started looking. Did you know there are all kinds of things you can do with the humble sweet potato? From soups to desserts, it's pretty overwhelming. A sweet friend of mine, Angie, said her mom liked a Paula Deen recipe, so I searched and added that one to my "favorites" stash. Then the vote went to the family.

Orange or apricot?

Sliced or mashed?

Marshmallows or not?

Unfortunately, none of my "favorites" fit the winners of the voting. So after some thought that included the fact that I really didn't want to do any more searching, I decided to...ahem...*tweak* one of the recipes I already had. So Paula Deen and I have "collaborated" and come up with an AWE. SOME. recipe I call

Orange Sweet Potato Bake
By Paula Deen and Valerie Stranathan

3 cups cooked, peeled and mashed sweet potatoes (about 2 large sweet potatoes)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup orange marmalade
1/3 cup melted butter
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp. ginger
¼ cup heavy cream or half and half

Topping:
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup walnuts or pecans
1/3 cup all purpose flour
3 T. melted butter

Mix all ingredients for bake except the cream. Beat at medium speed. Then add cream and mix well. Pour into a 2 quart greased dish.

For the topping mix all ingredients together with a fork and sprinkle over the top of casserole.

Bake for 25-30 minutes in a 325 degree oven.