The Starving Musician
Recipes
Randi's Yams in Orange Cups
This super-easy recipe is based
on one that appeared in a 1935 women's magazine. The original was a little
bland for 2K5 tastes, so I jazzed it up with more brown sugar, some
cinnamon, and marshmallows. This recipe can be assembled a day ahead (minus
the marshmallows) and refrigerated, then baked. It also doubles very well;
in either case, increase the baking time.
8 Servings
4 navel oranges, washed
3 Tablespoons softened salted butter, plus extra to grease the inside of the
orange shells
1 29 oz can sweet potatoes or yams, drained, or the flesh of 3-4 small baked
sweet potatoes or yams (discard the skin)
4 Tablespoons brown sugar (I use "light" or "golden" brown sugar)
6 Tablespoons chopped pecans
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
salt to taste, if using baked sweet potatoes or yams
miniature marshmallows (optional), or 8 pecan halves for garnish if not
using marshmallows
Stand each orange upright; without cutting through to the orange flesh, cut
a very thin slice of peel from the top and bottom of each orange so it will
stand firmly on each end without rolling around. Reserve any slices of
orange peel to plug up holes that may occur in the orange shells you're
about to make. Cut oranges in half.
Over a bowl to catch the juice, carefully scoop out orange halves with a
spoon, creating little orange shell "bowls". Save the insides and juice.
With your fingers, lightly butter the insides of the orange shells.
(Sometimes a hole occurs in the stem end of the orange shells; if this
happens, place a slice of the reserved orange peel on the inside of shell to
cover the hole, or plug it up with a small piece of orange.) Place orange
shells in the cups of a muffin tin or in a baking pan surrounded with
crumpled aluminum foil to keep them upright; set aside. Preheat oven to
350F.
Back to the bowl of orange "insides." With fingers, peel off and discard any
white pith from the flesh (it's very bitter and becomes bitter when baked);
discard any seeds. Chop orange flesh and scrape it and any juice back into
the bowl. Add yams, brown sugar, butter, pecans, and cinnamon or nutmeg;
mash together with potato masher and mix well. (The butter might not
dissolve; that's fine as long as it's well-distributed throughout the
mixture.) Taste and adjust ingredients if necessary; if you're using fresh
baked yams, the flavor and texture varies greatly, so you may need to add
additional salt, butter, brown sugar, or cinnamon.
Stuff yam mixture into orange shells, mounding slightly. Set the filled
orange shells upright in muffin tin or in baking pan surrounding each with
crumpled aluminum foil as necessary to keep them upright. (Any leftover
mixture can be baked in individual ramekins or custard cups.)
If not using marshmallows: bake 350F for 25-30 minutes; garnish each with a
pecan half.
If using marshmallows: bake 350F 20 minutes, remove from oven, top with
marshmallows, return to oven and bake 350F 10-12 more minutes, or pop under
the broiler, until marshmallows are lightly browned.
Creative variations: 1. If you don't want to make the orange shells,
you can bake the yam-orange mixture in a buttered casserole dish using the
above baking times and temperature. But baking it in the orange cups
eliminates having to wash a sticky, marshmallow-ey baking dish, so it's
worth it! 2. Use 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg or 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
instead of the cinnamon. 3. Use 3-4 Tablespoons maple syrup, or 2-3
Tablespoons corn syrup, or 2 Tablespoons molasses instead of the brown
sugar. (Depending on the yams, you may need a little more, so always taste
before baking.)
Recipes ©2004
Randi Reed
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