Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole

Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole

     For every holiday gathering, I bring my signature dish- sweet potato casserole. Since we have vegans in the family, I always made one dish original and one dish vegan. I always kept the two dishes separated and told everyone at the gathering which was dairy free and which wasn’t. Only the vegans ate the vegan dish, and the non-vegans ate the original dish. Well, at the last gathering, there was only one vegan (my mama), so I only told her which was vegan since it only truly mattered to her. Before I knew it, everyone had served themselves the vegan casserole and they were all RAVING over how delish it was! Then they tried the original and could not taste a difference! From now on I will be making ONE vegan dish and save myself the hassle of preparing two separate casseroles.
     I always used vegan butter for the topping, but my mom requested I find a substitute and perfect a recipe without the extra oil and fat. That’s when I tried unsweetened applesauce (if you haven’t already, you will soon discover this is a favorite ingredient of mine!) in place of the butter. While it was baking, the sweet aroma flooded the kitchen. I didn’t tell my husband that I was changing up the recipe, only that I was baking a sweet potato casserole. I try to be sneaky with him because he turns his nose up to a lot! ;) He asked, literally, 5 times if it was ready to eat. He dug in and devoured his serving in no time, and went back for thirds! I then decided to tell him what was different and he said it was just as good as every other time I had made it! Prior to now, I made the casseroles with regular all purpose flour, but I’m loving oat flour these days, and it’s MUCH healthier for you. Not to mention oat flour is gluten free!

 Ingredients:

• 4 medium sweet potatoes
• 1/4 organic cane sugar
• 1 cup original unsweetened almond milk
• 1/4 cup organic unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup organic coconut sugar or organic light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup oat flour**
• 6 tablespoons vegan butter (I use earth’s balance- preferably stick) or 1/4 cup applesauce for oil free version. 
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Wash sweet potatoes and pierce with a fork. Bake them for 30-40 minutes until tender.
3. Raise temperature to 400.
4. When potatoes are cool enough to handle, scoop out flesh into a large mixing bowl and mash.
5. Add cane sugar, almond milk, applesauce, vanilla, and salt to the mashed sweet potatoes. Mix ingredients together until smooth. Some clumps are ok.
6. In a separate bowl, combine coconut sugar, oat flour, and vegan butter together (or applesauce if you’re oil free). Your mixture should be crumble-like, resembling wet sand. If using cold vegan butter, you can use a knife to chop the mixture to achieve this texture. Fold in pecans.
7. Pour the sweet potato mixture into 9x11 baking dish and top with your pecan mixture.
8. Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
9. Let the casserole cool for a few minutes to let crust settle before serving.

**to make oat flour, add oats to a high power food processor/blender. Blend until the oats are powder, like flour.

Nutrition facts are made with vegan butter, not applesauce. Please note that nutrition information will vary depending on brand of ingredients.