Sweet Potato Casserole with Bourbon Syrup
This recipe has been graciously shared by Dr. Rebecca Woo, M.D. and family.

Ingredients:
3 cups cooked sweet potatoes (fresh or canned)
½ cup white sugar
2 eggs, beaten
½ stick butter, melted
½ cup milk
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
¼ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. nutmeg

NUT TOPPING:
½ CUP BROWN SUGAR
1/3 CUP FLOUR
1 CUP ROUGH-CHOPPED PECANS
1/3 STICK BUTTER AT ROOM TEMPERATURE

Method of Preparation:
1. Mash sweet potatoes.
2. Add sugar, eggs, salt, butter, milk, vanilla and spices.
3. Mix well.
4. Pour mixture into shallow baking dish sprayed with vegetable oil.
5. Combine nut topping ingredients in a medium-size bowl.
6. Top the sweet potatoes with pecan nut topping.
6. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes.
*If you do not use the nut topping, you can add marshmallows to the top of the casserole after 30 minutes of baking and then return to a 400 degree oven for 5-10 minutes or until marshmallows are brown.


Bourbon Syrup

Ingredients:
Sugar, white granulated- ¾ cup
Water- ¼ cup, warm
Lemon juice, fresh- 1 tsp
Bourbon- ¾ cup
Ginger, fresh- 1 inch piece, chopped

Method of Preparation:
1. In a saucepan, combine sugar, lemon juice, and warm water until sugar begins to dissolve. Clean saucepan sides of any residual syrup and bring mixture to a boil over high heat. Continue to cook, evaporating the water, until the inverted sugar begins to caramelize. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook until the all of the sugar has turned a deep amber color. This entire process should take about 4-5 minutes.
2. Once the sugar has caramelized to a deep amber, remove the saucepan from the heat and add the bourbon. Return the saucepan to the heat and continue to cook until all of the sugar has dissolved into the bourbon.
3. Once all of the sugar has dissolved, remove the saucepan completely from the heat and add the chopped ginger. Brew the ginger in the syrup for 5 minutes, then strain out ginger using a fine strainer.
4. Cover and refrigerate the syrup immediately.
5. Drizzle the bourbon syrup over the sweet potatoes as they are being carried to the table.
Yield: ¾-1 cup