I know, I know, they’re fantastically good for you, but those traditional mounds of mashed sweet potatoes with their marshmallow topping (and how did that get to be an American tradition, anyway?) usually leave me cold.

Oh, I regularly serve them at the holidays — but no one else in the family seems to like them that much, either. I’ve mashed ’em with butter and brown sugar, candied ’em with cashews and peaches, and even done the marshmallow thing. Still, I usually have piles of them left over.

Until this year. I think I’ve finally found the recipe that makes them a hit. Brown sugar and butter, yes, but not overly much, plus a hearty helping of apple made this sweet-potato dish disappear at Thanksgiving.

I found it at allrecipes.com, submitted by Tamby Plue, bless you, whoever and wherever you are. It’s easy, yet different — and it tastes delightful. (A heap better than marshmallows, imho.)

Sweet Potato and Apple Casserole — exactly what it says — layers parboiled sliced sweet potatoes and fresh apple, with a little brown sugar and butter in between. I cut mine into quarters, boiled them enough to tenderize but not pulverize them, then sliced them and layered them with the apple. I did mine in two more layers than the recipe called for, possibly because I used a smaller dish (8×8 square). So the amount of sugar and butter was distributed a little differently. You can adjust that to your own taste, of course (I routinely use less butter than called for, and skipped the pecans too).

This was good with turkey, but would go well with other poultry or ham. Check it out here:  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/sweet-potato-and-apple-casserole/ Enjoy!