Mexican Sweet Potato Skins

. . . or Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potatoes (if you don't eat the skins - are you supposed to eat the skins? I just don't know about that . . .)

Source: slightly modified (because I didn't have everything that was needed but wanted to eat them anyway) from pinchofyum.com (via Pinterest)

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 60 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients:
3 medium sweet potatoes
1 can corn, rinsed and patted dry (forgot the rinsing and patting step - whoops!)
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 Tablespoon butter
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
2-4 canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced or pureed (didn't have this - but subbed in a roasted chile pepper that I've had in my freezer since last fall)
1 ounce light cream cheese (didn't have this either - just bumped up the sour cream a titch instead)
1/4 cup light sour cream
1 teaspoon salt (+ more to taste)
1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
6 Tablespoons shredded cheese (Pepperjack, Cheddar, Colby Jack… anything will work)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake the sweet potatoes for 45-60 minutes.

While sweet potatoes are baking, place corn in a heavy cast-iron skillet (didn't have one - and while my corn wasn't quite as lovely and roasted as the original author's, I think it smelled and tasted quite divine anyway) over medium-high heat with no butter or oil. Sprinkle with salt and other Mexican seasoning (as much as you want) (I used a few shakes of homemade taco seasoning). Do not stir! Let corn roast for several minutes before stirring. Let it roast for a few more minutes before stirring again. Continue this for about 10 minutes, until corn is browned and roasted on the outside. Set aside in a small bowl with the black beans.

Saute the onion in the butter over medium heat until soft and translucent. Set aside.

Remove sweet potatoes from the oven when fork-tender. Let cool for 5-10 minutes. Cut the sweet potatoes in half. Scrape the flesh of the sweet potatoes out, leaving the skins intact. Sometimes leaving a thin layer of potato inside of the skins helps them hold together better.

Mix the flesh of the sweet potatoes with the cream cheese, sour cream, chipotle peppers, and salt. You can use a mixer or just a spoon (or a potato masher worked awesome!), depending on how soft the potatoes are. When well-mixed, gently stir in the black beans, roasted corn, sauteed onions, and cilantro.

Scoop the filling into the skins and top each with 1 tablespoon shredded cheese. Broil for about 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Notes:
We had sweet potato fries one night for dinner while I was in Virginia with Victoria and Ryan and it reminded me how much I love sweet potatoes.  So much, in fact, that after I got home I bought some, fully intending to make some fries myself.  Then, I saw this recipe on pinterest and I knew I had to try it with my newly acquired sweet potatoes from City Market.  Black beans plus corn plus anything is lovely in my book, so I knew it would be a winner.  I was a bit hesitant about the whole "twice baked" idea, thinking that it would be kind of a pain and take a long time.  Don't be scared!  This really was a pretty simple recipe to throw together - just be sure to give the potatoes enough time to bake (ours took about an hour) and you're set.  Mmm . . . super filling and super delicious.