You know, when I was a kid and we would go to a fancy restaurant, when I would see twice-baked potatoes on the menu, I thought that was about the fanciest potato I could imagine.

And one day I got the idea, I'm gonna do these with sweet potatoes.

And that's what we're gonna make right now.

So all I've done so far is taken four sweet potatoes, more or less the same size, put 'em on a parchment-lined baking sheet and roasted them until they're done.

Now, I didn't wrap 'em in foil.

That was deliberate, because we're gonna eat the skins, and I wanted that beautiful flavor and texture to come through.

So I'm gonna take my sweet potatoes and I'm gonna scoop out the middles, and it's gonna leave me these cute little sweet potato boats that will hold that filling later.

It's so easy.

And then, once I've got that filling in there, I'm gonna take masher and just crush this up a little bit.

And now we have our building blocks.

We're gonna put these aside.

I'm gonna set this aside.

And we'll cook some more stuff, and then this is all gonna meet up a little bit later.

So what I've been doing is cooking some bacon, just two or three pieces.

And I cut it into little rectangles so it will cook evenly all the way around.

And mine is going to go right over here.

And I'm gonna take a slotted spoon.

And I'm gonna take this bacon out.

So I've taken these good drippings still in the pan, and I'm gonna cook some things in it.

The first thing I'm adding is a small onion that has been diced up, along with a little pinch of salt.

And after these onions have started softening up just a little bit, I'm gonna put in one small apple that's been diced in little cubes.

I like a sweet, tart apple for those flavors and that texture.

But I also want an apple that's gonna hold its shape when it cooks, so I have these beautiful little pieces in the filling instead of it collapsing into a sauce.

After these start turning a little bit tender, I'm gonna put in a leafy green.

I am using kale.

I'm gonna add a little bit, stir it in, and let the steam that's coming off my onions and apples start to wilt it just a bit.

Isn't this pretty?

I love little bits of the peel.

That's why I left the peel on this apple.

I love those little bits of color.

So there's enough moisture in this that the kale is going to wilt.

Let me show you what I've got over here on the cutting board.

This is aged Gouda cheese, and I just love it.

Now that this has come back up to temperature, let me add two more delicious things.

This is whole-grain mustard.

It's a kind of Dijon mustard.

And you could use the smooth kind, but I find those little seeds that come in the whole-grain mustard to be irresistible.

I also have a little bit of fresh thyme.

Stir that in.

So from that, I am going to add back in my sweet potatoes from earlier so that they can warm back up.

And I'm gonna take that cheese, not all of it, I gotta save some for the top, but a small handful.

And stir everything together.

So I'm gonna put a little bit more salt, remembering that there's gonna be some salt from that bacon that will go back on top.

And believe it or not, a little bit of salt from that cheese.

Some good grinds of fresh black pepper.

Stir it back together.

And this is what's going to go in our sweet potato shells to be our beautiful filling.

So now it's time to stuff the shells.

And I'm going to divide that among our sweet potato shells.

You know, I sort of eyeball it, but you can always go back and even them out later if you need to.

So there's my filling.

And then I'm gonna take the rest of that cheese, this aged Gouda.

So it's aged enough to have that great depth of flavor I was talking about, but it's not so old that it won't melt.

A little bit on each one.

And then that delicious bacon, it's gonna go back on top, too.

Your fingers are the way to go about this.

It is almost impossible to pick up one piece of cooked bacon on the end of the spoon.

And there we have it.

That's it, they're all assembled and they're going to go back into a warm oven just until the filling warms up, that cheese melts just a little bit, until they're a little bit bubbly, and they're ready to eat.

Well, these turned out just right.

I am so pleased.

Look how the shells hold their shape.

You can see the green, you can see the pink from the apple, the gorgeous orange of the potato.

My cheese is melty.

And I cannot wait another minute to dig in.

Mmm, that is so good.

You taste everything individually, but then it comes together on the forkful, and you don't lose sight that this is a sweet potato recipe.

Sweet potatoes are the star.

They're what pulled the whole thing together.

I just love these, and I think you're gonna love them, too.

So make 'em real soon, okay?

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