I have a little something to confess — I don’t really love Sweet Potato Casserole. I don’t hate it, I don’t even dislike it, I just often find it too sweet and too soft. While I love sweet potatoes, I want them to have some contrast… so dressing them up with some cream and garlic and cheese and crunchy edges is my ideal sweet potato situation. These are a show stopper of a side dish — perfect for the Thanksgiving table but approachable and easy enough for an average weeknight meal too.

You are doing little more here than baking sweet potato slices in a buttery garlic-cream mixture, which means that yes, it’s indulgent, but it’s also very easy. For a 9×13 baking dish you’ll want about three pounds of sweet potatoes, which you need to peel and then slice an 1/8th of an inch thick. (It’s a good time to pull out that old mandoline, in other words.)

You then whisk some cornstarch into some heavy cream, add some butter, garlic, and thyme to steep in that, and then pour that over the sweet potatoes. You can line them up nicely, or you can layer them haphazardly in the baking dish. Up to you.

You’ll want to bake until the sweet potatoes are tender and then top it with some parmesan and pop it back into the oven to melt the cheese. That whole process takes about forty minutes. Not too bad for such a heavenly creamy dish!