Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes with Bacon Sesame Brittle

So this is what happens when I read cooking magazines..I get these crazy "gourmet cooking" ideas and destroy the kitchen in the process. I'm so sorry to my husband who has to clean up the kitchen after I cook! (He does so because he enjoys my food and wants to continue to eat)

I saw this recipe in a food magazine while at Barnes and Noble with my son this week and I just HAD to try it!!

Put 8-10 (depending on size) Potatoes on a foil lined baking sheet in an oven that has been preheated to 400 degrees. The recipe I followed said the sweet potatoes should bake at 400 for about 45 minutes. Mine took an hour and 10 minutes! Every oven is different and the size of the sweet potato will change the time it takes to cook them. You will know they are done when you can slide a knife all the way through the potato with ease. 

While my potatoes were baking I started making my Bacon Sesame Brittle!

 In one word, this Brittle was: YUM.

Strangest most amazing thing I have eaten in a while.

Brittle Ingredients:

6-7 Slices Thick Cut Bacon

1/4 Cup Sesame Seeds

1/3 Cup Sugar

1-2 Tbsp. Reserved Bacon Fat

Before starting the brittle, line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment or wax paper.

Then slice the bacon into 1/4 inch pieces and cook them in a heated skillet until they start to get crispy. (don's use any oil/butter to cook the bacon) Place bacon in a colander over a bowl to drain all the fat. (if you don't do this your brittle will be too greasy) Next place sesame seeds in the skillet (you can use the same one, just wipe out the bacon grease) and toast them just until they turn a medium tan. Put bacon back into the pan with the sesame seeds and add the sugar and a tablespoon or so of the reserved bacon fat. Cook this mixture, stirring often, until the sugar turns the color of milk chocolate. This took me about 5 minutes on medium high. Pour the mixture onto your lined baking sheet and spread thin with a spatula.

It should look a little bit like this!

Once the Brittle has hardened, break it up into shards. You can store the brittle for days in an air tight container at room temperature, if you'd like.

My Potatoes took forever so I watched a little Steven and Chris.

When my dinger went off, I got back into the kitchen sliced them in half, scooped them out and put the insides into a large mixing bowl! It was a bit harder than it sounded! (btw, give the potatoes 15-20 minutes to cool enough to handle them...I did not do this step because my fingers are pretty burnt from other cooking experiences, but those suckers were HOT) You need to leave and about 1/4 inch of potato around the skin for it to hold its shape...some of mine DID NOT look pretty!

This is how they looked once I scooped them out!

Sweet Potato Filling:

Insides of the Sweet Potatoes

1/2 Cup cream

2 eggs

2 Tbsp. White Miso Paste

(I was a little iffy about the Miso Paste...I have never tried it, but I was being adventurous and it everything turned out fine)

2 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter

1 Tsp. Ground Ginger 

1/4 Cup Scallions for garnish (I skipped this)

Mash the warm potato filling before adding the other ingredients. You want it to be super smooth! Add everything else to the sweet potato filling and combine. (working with the filling while it was warm is much easier!)

Use a pipping bag to fill the skins or a large spoon to scoop the filling. I used a freeser size ziplock bag. I filled it with my sweet potato filling and cut one of the corners off the bottom of the bag! It just looked...fancier than scooping the filling into the skins. You can do WHATEVER you want though!

Pop the potatoes back into the 400 degree oven for another 20 minutes and when the 20 minutes are up turn on the broiler for 3-5, just to get the tops of the filling golden!

After the cool a bit, garnish them with your bacon brittle!

A picture does them NO justice!

They were pretty yummy!

Next time I make these though, I might skip the Miso and ginger and add Vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon instead...I just missed those flavors from my sweet potatoes! The bacon brittle, though? I'll probably be making that pretty regularly...I might even do bacon and pecans? And maybe give some out as Christmas gifts?!

To accompany our Sweet Potatoes I made Homemade Chicken and Zucchini Baked Stuffing using left over fried chicken!

Look for that recipe tomorrow.