Directions:

Note: 3 cups sweet potatoes is about 3-4 large sweet potatoes. To cook sweet potatoes, first wash and dry them carefully then you can either: 1) Bake them at 400 degrees for 50-60 minutes 2) Boil them for 30 minutes (my preferred method) or 3) Pierce them with a fork and microwave them for about 15-20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a medium-size casserole dish with nonstick spray or I prefer to rub butter around the sides. The size of dish will depend on how thick you want your potatoes. I like to use around a 2-quart dish. A 9x13 pan is a 3-quart dish, so if you're doubling it and put it in a 9x13 pan, it might be on the thicker side.

For the crust: Combine brown sugar, flour, pecans, and butter in mixing bowl. Chill in the fridge until ready to use. This helps the crumble maintain its form and not melt into the sweet potatoes.

Combine sweet potatoes, sugar, salt, vanilla, eggs, and butter in a large mixing bowl in the order listed. Beat thoroughly with a hand mixer for about 3-4 minutes to increase the fluffiness of the sweet potato mixture. Add a splash of milk, if needed, and mix.

At this point, dish can be covered and refrigerated for a couple of days if making ahead of time. If you refrigerated ahead of time, make sure to reheat the potatoes again before adding the crust, around 10-20 minutes.

Pour mixture into the baking dish. Bake for 25 minutes.

Sprinkle the surface of the sweet potato mixture evenly with the crust mixture and return to oven for 10-20 minutes or until crumble is browned.

Allow to set at least 30 minutes before serving.

The brown sugar and pecan crust should be slightly browned and crunchy.