Twice baked Sweet Potato Casserole with Bacon

Here's what to do with all those sweet potatoes you've got lying around :)  I LOVE sweet potatoes, but not everyone does.  I'm the only one in our family who does.  Tim will tolerate them but that's it.  Well I found this recipe in the Pillsbury Annual Recipes 2010 cookbook and I just had to try it!  I mean come on it has bacon in it!  It was awesome!  It made me love sweet potatoes even more!  The kids ate it ok but Tim actually liked it!  I give this recipe a 5!  As always my variations will be in red.

Ingredients:

6 lb dark-orange sweet potatoes (9 large or 12 medium)

8 oz bacon (8 to 10 slices)  (I used real bacon bits)

1/4 cup Progresso® panko crispy bread crumbs or Progresso® plain bread crumbs

1 tablespoon butter or margarine, melted

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened

2 medium green onions, chopped (2 tablespoons)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:
1 Heat oven to 350°F. Line 15x10x1-inch pan with foil; spray 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray. Pierce sweet potatoes several times with fork. Place in pan. Bake about 1 hour 15 minutes or until tender. Cool 10 minutes. When potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel potatoes and cut out any eyes or dark spots.

 2 Meanwhile, cook bacon as desired until crisp; chop. In small bowl, mix bread crumbs and 1 tablespoon butter; set aside.

 3 In large bowl, mash potatoes with potato masher. Stir in chopped bacon, sour cream, 1/4 cup butter, the onions, salt and pepper until well blended. Spread mixture in baking dish, or form individual servings in dish with 1/2-cup ice cream scoop or measuring cup. Sprinkle crumb mixture evenly over top.

 4 Bake 20 to 30 minutes or until thoroughly heated and bread crumbs just begin to brown.