How to Make Really Good Yams

I don't really like to cook that much, but one thing I always enjoy making the night before Thanksgiving is candied yams. I make them, let them cool down, put them in the fridge and then warm them up in the microwave right before the meal.

Here's how I make them. First preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Get two cans (or one large can) of yams with juice. Open the cans and empty the juice into a saucepan and then dump the yams in a casserole dish. Dump a whole bunch of brown sugar into the juice. (I don't measure it, but I make sure it's a generous amount -- enough to turn the juice a dark brown.) Add generous amounts of cinnamon, ground cloves and pumpkin pie spice. Put the juice mixture on high and bring it to a boil while stirring it. Once it starts boiling, you have to quickly turn the heat down to medium or medium-high. You may also need to grab the saucepan and lift it off the burner until things cool down some or else it will boil over.

You want to let the juice mixture attain a gentle, rolling boil. Let it boil and keep stirring it. When the juice starts to thicken into a syrup and starts clinging to the spoon, you are ready for the next step. It usually takes about 15 or 20 minutes for the juice mixture to turn into syrup.

Pour the syrup over the yams in the casserole dish and place the dish -- uncovered -- in the oven. Let it bake anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes. Every 10 minutes or so, take a spoon and baste the yams with the syrup. You want the yams to not be too firm or too mushy.

Some people like to add marshmallows or nuts to the yams, but I don't think that's necessary. The syrup makes them delicious enough!

Update: I would post a picture of my most excellent yams, but my digital camera is broken and I've sent it off to be fixed. Canon is fixing it for free because the problem was caused by a flaw in that particular model.