Spiced Sweet Potatoes

Spiced Sweet Potatoes (adapted from Cooks Illustrated)

3-4 large yams or sweet potatoes

6 Tb butter, melted

2 Tb honey

3 Tb molasses

1 tsp powdered ginger

1/2 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp table salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 1/2 Tb cornstarch

Note: It took me years to learn this, but sweet potatoes and yams are totally different beasts! And here in America, the ones you can find at the grocery store are usually yams. The deep orange ones. Sweet potatoes are much lighter. So even though we call this "sweet potatoes", I always use yams. And call them sweet potatoes. :) You can use either.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Peel and cut sweet potatoes into 1-1 1/2 inch chunks. Dump them into buttered 9x13 baking dish.

Whisk melted butter, honey, molasses, ginger, salt, and cayenne in small bowl and set aside. Mix cornstarch with 2 Tb water in small bowl until smooth, then it whisk into butter mixture. Pour this over the potatoes and toss it all to coat the chunks.

Cover tightly with foil and bake until potatoes are almost soft enough, about 40-50 minutes. Remove foil, stir yams gently, and bake until potatoes are soft and glaze thickens, about 15-20 minutes longer. Cool slightly and serve hot.