Balls and Walnuts
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Sweet potato pie (correction)
This blog is my spare memory. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked up one of my own recipes when I’d forgotten where I’d found the original, or if I was just too lazy to search through several dozen back issues of Cooks Illustrated. So . . . since I’ve hit upon a great recipe for sweet potato pie, I’m reprinting it here.
I think I have improved upon the original. Main differences: I believe in baking my sweet potatoes, since that leads to caramelization and greater depth of flavor. For similar reasons I prefer brown sugar to white, and to make sure we’re talking REALLY BROWN sugar, I added some molasses, too.
The result? Big hit.
1 pound of sweet potato pulp from thoroughly baked sweet potatoes*
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar**
1/2 cup milk***
2 eggs
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tablespoon black strap molasses
1 (9 inch) pie crust****
Mine is darker. And tastier.
*If you don’t have a kitchen scale, this is roughly equal to one very large sweet potato or two medium-sized potatoes.
**I didn’t make any effort to pack the brown sugar, just scooped it out of the bag.
***As tempting as it was to use all cream, I used a scant 1/2 cup of low fat milk that I topped off with cream.
****Marie Callendars. Guess I could have made my own, but I’ve never been too skilled at pastry.
The instructions are easy-peasy. Preheat oven to 350F (175C). Combine the sweet potato with the butter using an electric mixer. Add the rest of the ingredients and beat with the mixer until smooth. Pour into a pie shell that’s been sitting in the preheated oven for about five minutes. Bake 55 to 60 minutes.
The original recipe says to bake until a butter knife inserted into the center comes out clean. I think this would take longer than 60 min, maybe a lot longer, and I worry about overcooking my pie. I hardly ever wait until the knife comes out clean.
There you have it. Enjoy! This bugger kicks ass over pumpkin pie.
D.
On that website, some folks use clove, some ginger. Some vary the proportions of brown and white sugar. And some folks use sweetened condensed milk — what’s with that?
This sounds pretty amazing, and I think I might have to try this for Thanksgiving (which is in 3 weeks, despite what y’all think down south). I’m going to go with cinnamon, cloves AND ginger.
I will copy this for sure and try it when the weather cools down. I used to have a good recipe for pie crust; I will have to look for it, but I didn’t know Marie Callenders sold just their pie crust in the stores. Hot damn! I hate pumpkin pie.
Sweetened condensed milk would likely make this heavy and too sweet; I only use it when I’m in the mood for Magic Cookie Bars. Sweetened condensed milk is a heart attack waiting to happen.Oh, and you need it for Rachael Ray’s no brainer fudge.
Thanks. This one won’t disappoint. Please note that I left off molasses from the ingredient list (which I’ve corrected).
So you wouldn’t try to use non-fat milk? Would it ruin it?
What’s the point? You just put half a cup of butter into this bad boy. You’re gonna skimp on some milk fat?
I just don’t want to buy milk I won’t drink. Butter I will buy because I bake with it. But I buy a half gallon of non-fat, and it’s already there.
I doubt there’d be a huge problem using non-fat. The butter would more than make up for it 🙂
i make my thanksgiving pies out of roasted butternut squash. with nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and allspice. 🙂