Food & Cooking Recipes Main Dish Recipes Casserole Recipes Amanda Hesser's Sweet Potato Casserole 3.3 (209) Servings: 8 Jump to recipe Bake a homey, pecan-topped casserole with this recipe from The Essential New York Times Cookbook, by Amanda Hesser. Directions Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Make the sweet potatoes: Place sweet potatoes on a baking sheet and roast until very tender, about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. When potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut in half, scoop flesh into a bowl and mash until smooth. You should have 4 to 5 cups of mashed sweet potato. Stir in brown sugars, eggs, orange juice, butter, vanilla, and salt; transfer to an 8-inch square baking dish. Make the topping: In a small bowl, mix together butter, brown sugar, and pecans. Sprinkle over sweet potato mixture. Transfer to oven and bake until nuts are toasted and casserole has puffed, about 30 minutes. Serve.