Pumpkin Sweet Potato Casserole

Every year we have "Friendsgiving" with people from church. Our church does food well; I'm talking heaven-quality. Seriously. Someone had brought this version of sweet potato casserole and I immediately sought out who made it in order to get the recipe. It's light, yet filling. It's sweet, but not too sweet. It's just right. I added my own touches to it like the pumpkin and cinnamon. The pumpkin can totally be omitted and you don't need to change anything else. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

5-6 medium sweet potatoes
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup canned pumpkin (optional)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 stick butter (4 TBSP)
1 cup chopped pecans

1. This first step can be done ahead of time; the day before or the morning of. Preheat oven to 400. Wash sweet potatoes and poke all over with a fork. Lay foil over a baking sheet (for easy clean up) and place sweet potatoes in oven for 1 hour or until soft. Allow to cool until you can handle them.

2. In a large bowl scoop out flesh of sweet potatoes. Add salt, cinnamon, pumpkin, egg and vanilla. Mix well with electric mixer. Grease a 9x13 pan. Transfer sweet potato mixture to 9x13.

3. In a medium bowl place flour and brown sugar. By 1 TBSP increments add butter. With a pastry cutter or a fork, mix all together to form a clumpy topping. Add pecans and mix well. Spoon this mixture on top of sweet potatoes. Bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes, until heated through.