Sweet Potatoes, Bananas and Honey, oh my!

I’m convinced that someone like me must have invented the following recipe. Someone not very fond of the traditional sweet potato-marshmallow-smothered hot dish. And that’s putting it nicely.

But when my mom brought this amazing dish to a mutual friend’s birthday potluck, I began to change my tune. I made it for our big Thanksgiving meal, and I’m making it again to take this evening to another family get-together.

Whipped Sweet Potatoes & Bananas with Honey

• 6 medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed
• 4 bananas, unpeeled
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temp
• 1/4 cup honey
• kosher salt (I used regular)
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup brown sugar

• 1/3-1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Prick the sweet potatoes all over with a fork, put them in a roasting pan and roast for 45 minutes. Toss the bananas into the same pan and continue roasting for 10-15 minutes until both potatoes and bananas are very soft. Remove the pan from the oven but don’t turn the oven off.

When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh into a large mixing bowl. Peel the bananas and add them to the bowl along with 1 stick of the butter and the honey. Season with salt and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon (I just used my Kitchen Aid mixer) until everything is well combined and the mixture is fluffy. Spoon into a 9×13 pan/baking dish and smooth the top.

In a separate mixing bowl, use a fork to combine the remaining stick of butter, brown sugar, flour and pecans until the mixture is the consistency of coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the crumb mixture over the sweet potatoes and return to the oven. Cook for 20 minutes or till the crumbs are golden. Serve hot.

It’s like dessert. Try it, you’ll love it. And I’m off to pull my taters and bananas out of the oven…