Hollywood & Vine - Root Beer Bourbon Sweet Potatoes

I am so glad to be back to blogging after a loooong hiatus.  The day after my last blog post I took a home pregnancy test and got a big positive!  That was great, but it wasn't long before any mention of food made me ill, and I certainly wasn't able to cook.  Honestly, food lost all appeal for the majority of my pregnancy and then I was too tired to cook after having the baby.  Now my daughter is almost 6 months old and I feel like life is returning to normal... kind of!

I decided to make these Root Beer Bourbon Sweet Potatoes because I had a ton of sweet potatoes left over from holiday cooking.  Actually, I had all the ingredients on hand except for the bourbon.  These sweet potatoes hail from the Hollywood & Vine restaurant in Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.  I have only gone to the character breakfast at Hollywood & Vine, so I have not tried the "real deal" version of the sweet potatoes in the park.  I wonder how these measure up?

This recipe was fairly easy.  Here are the ingredients: 

The most time-consuming part of the recipe is peeling the sweet potatoes.  I peeled them and cut them into 1/2" rounds (approximately).  I then put them into a 9x11 inch baking dish and put them into a 350 degree oven. 

Next, I put all of the sauce ingredients into a pan.  4 cups of root beer, 2 Tbs lemon juice, 1 cup bourbon, a pinch of ground cloves, 3/4 cup brown sugar, and a stick of butter (1/4 pound). 

I brought this mixture to a boil and then turned the heat down to a simmer.  The sauce simmered for about 20 minutes.  

In a small bowl I mixed 6 Tbs of cornstarch into 3/4 cup water.  Be sure to whisk this so there are no lumps.  Whisk this mixture into the root beer sauce and stir until it thickens.

Once the sweet potatoes were tender (took about an hour in my oven), I tossed them in some of the sauce.  This recipe made a TON of sauce... way too much for my 3 pounds of sweet potatoes... so just add the amount that looks good to you. 

The verdict:  These potatoes were ok.  I think that I personally didn't like the round cuts of potato.  They took a long time to cook and were still kind of tough around the edges.  I think cubes of potato would work better, or just mash them and add some of the sauce.  The sauce was very mild.... not bad, but I don't know if it added enough flavor to make it worth the effort. 

As far as price goes, the ingredients I used probably came to about $10... $5 going towards the bourbon.  Not too bad considering it would feed at least 6 people with a ton of sauce to spare (I froze the extra in some ziploc baggies).  The dinner buffet at Hollywood & Vine is $35/adult so it makes sense to make these at home if you are only craving sweet potatoes! 

I am so glad to be back to cooking and blogging.  I think the next blog will be one of my all-time favorite Disney foods... the Crystal Palace Puffed French Toast.  I don't know how I will ever lose all my pregnancy weight but the French Toast is definitely worth the splurge!