Yam Soufflé

Did you know that what most people call a yam is not a yam at all? The bright orange baked yam at the fair or the candied yams you have every Thanksgiving with globs of melted marshmallow are actually sweet potatoes. I'm not sure where the confusion came from because I still get confused when I see them being called one name on Food Network and another name at the grocery store. How I remember which is actually is which is Sweet Potatoes don't look anything like a potato, they are orange and Yams looks like a potato, they are a light beige color.  After suffering years of candied yams (sweet potatoes) with burnt marshmallow I decided it was time for a change. I came across this recipe watching Trish Yearwood's cooking show. However, I switched up a few things in her recipe. I prefer an actual yam instead of the bright orange sweet potatoes, after all the Pumpkin Pie has the orange color covered!

Ingredients
     5 medium Yams
     2 Eggs
     1 cup sugar
     2 tsp Vanilla Extract
     1/2 cup Milk
     1/2 cup Butter, Soften
     1/8 tsp Salt
Topping
     1 cup Brown Sugar
     1 cup Chopped Pecans or Walnuts
     1/2 cup Flour
     1/4 cup Butter, Soften

Directions

1. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees. Grease a 2.5 quart baking dish with butter.
2. Poke the yams with a fork and place in a microwave safe dish and cook until soft (my microwave setting is Level 4 and is 13 minutes). Once cool enough to pick up, peel the potatoes and place into your standing mixing bowl and mash until smooth. Add the eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla, milk, and salt. Combine, then pour into a the prepped baking dish.
3. Topping: Mix the pecans, brown sugar, flour, and butter in a bowl until thoroughly combined. Sprinkle the topping over the yams and bake the soufflé for 40 minutes or until slightly browned.

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