Twice-Baked Sweet Potato Cups with Sour Cream, Chipotle, and Lime

Directions

Preheat oven to 400F/200C. Spray baking sheet with nonstick spray or olive oil.Slice sweet potatoes crosswise into thick pieces about 2 1/2 inches thick. (You will get 3-4 thick pieces from each sweet potato.) Rub sweet potato pieces with olive oil, including end pieces.Arrange sweet potatoes standing up on the baking sheet and roast until they can be easily pierced with a fork, about 45 minutes, turning them once during the cooking time.When sweet potatoes are soft, remove from the oven and let cool until they can be handled. Then use a melon baller or small spoon to scoop out most of the sweet potato flesh and put it in a bowl, leaving enough flesh attached to the skin and on the bottom to make a “cup.” Stand the empty cups back on the baking sheet.Mix sour cream, soft butter or margarine, lime juice, and pinch of ground Chipotle chile pepper (or very small amount of finely chopped Chipotle pepper). Stir the sour cream mixture and 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions into the mashed sweet potato in the bowl. Season to taste with salt and fresh ground black pepper. Taste the mixture to see if you want more lime or Chipotle flavor and add if needed. (One small pinch of Chipotle was enough for me, but it didn’t want it overly spicy.)Transfer the sweet potato mixture to a small Ziploc bag (or pastry bag if you have one.) Cut off the corner of the bag and squeeze out the mixture to fill the cups, filling them so it rises slightly above the edge. (If making ahead, sweet potatoes can be refrigerated at this point and reheated later.)Put filled sweet potato cups back into the oven and bake 20-25 minutes, until filling is hot and very lightly browned. Serve hot, garnished with thinly sliced green onions if desired.