Sweet Potato Pie
Thanksgiving is less than one week away, and what would this blog be without a pie to celebrate?!
Let’s start by addressing the elephant in the room, for any non-Americans who have stumbled across this post: this Sweet Potato Pie (herewith S.P.P) is indeed made with sweet potatoes, undeniably a vegetable. However: we Americans love frosted, carrot cake, cinnamon-y zucchini bread, and autumnal pumpkin pie, or rather: for us, some vegetables go just as well in dessert as they do as a side dish. After all, Americans tend to have a looser, more creative anything-goes attitude towards food — chicken + waffles! — which stands in stark contrast to Italy’s more traditional, rule-based approach (meatballs are served separately from the spaghetti, no exceptions).
But I digress! In comparison to the above three, a pie made with sweet potatoes perhaps makes the most sense — after all, sweet potatoes betray their vegetable status after a little time in the oven becoming sticky, caramelized, and borderline candy-like. And anyways — Thanksgiving is characterized by pretty odd dishes, isn’t it? It’s a day where we pair turkey with fruit and marshmallows with potatoes, and cook up suspiciously cake-like cornbread, green beans smothered in fried onions, and corn syrup-y pecan pies among other things.
(Don’t worry, we only eat this way once a year. Slightly more if you count the days where we enjoy the much anticipated leftovers).
The pie you see here was the first ever Sweet Potato Pie I’d ever baked or eaten, something I attribute to geography. After all, S.P.P hails from the American South, far from my native New England, and I’m sorry that so many years had passed before our paths finally crossed. The (brilliantly sunset orange) filling here is sweet but not cloying, thanks to a team of autumnal spices which gives it depth and complexity. Surprise: the filling is also surprisingly light, airy, and nearly fluffy — not what I expected from a pie made with potatoes — and the the crust is shortbread-like, buttery and a little salty. S.P.P is even prettier when served with dollops of freshly whipped cream (I forgot this and was sorry I did) and wait! I know you’re probably planning on featuring the usual trinity of Apple, Pecan, and Pumpkin, but trust me on this — Sweet Potato definitely deserves a little glory and a seat at the table too.
A note to anyone baking this pie in Italy: When I arrived ten years ago sweet potatoes were nowhere to be found, but nowadays can be bought at most supermarkets, especially Carrefours. Ahh, how times have changed!
A couple of notes: This pie can be made a day ahead of time, if that makes your Thanksgiving cooking/baking schedule a bit easier. If you don’t want to make your own pie crust, feel free to use a store-bought one (though I promise the homemade one is not at all difficult and really delicious). I read sweet potato pie recipes that boiled the potatoes instead of roasting them; you can also do this, but I find that roasting them gives them a richer, deeper flavor. I know that the filling already has a substantial amount of butter in it, but I wonder how this filling would be made with cream instead of milk — let me know if you try this. Feel free to alter the spices according to your tastes.
Looking for other pie recipes? Click here.
Looking for other Thanksgiving recipes? Click here.
SWEET POTATO PIE
Serves 8-10. Filling recipe adapted from The Novice Chef Blog. Crust recipe from Simply Recipes.
Ingredients for the crust:
1 1/4 cups (160 grams) all purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
1/2 cup (112 grams, 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, very cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 /2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3-4 tablespoons (42-56 ml) cold water
Ingredients for the filling:
1 pound (500 grams) sweet potatoes
1/2 cup (112 grams, 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (100 grams) brown sugar
1/2 cup (120mL) whole milk
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons (about 4 grams) ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon (eyeball it) ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon (eyeball it) ginger
1/4 teaspoon (a generous pinch) salt
Pinch of ground cloves
Unsweetened whipped cream, for serving (optional)
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 400°F (200 degrees celsius). Wrap the sweet potatoes with foil and bake on a cookie sheet until soft, about 1 hour (or longer if your sweet potatoes are extra large).
While the sweet potatoes are roasting, prepare your crust following the directions provided for an all-butter crust, found here. Note that I halved the recipe to make just 1 pie crust, but feel free to follow the instructions as written if you want to make two (you can use the crust for another pie — may I suggest pecan?!) Place the resulting dough disc in the fridge for at least one hour.
Once the sweet potatoes are softened and roasted — they will be wonderfully sticky and caramelized — remove them from the oven and allow them to cool completely. Once cool enough to handle, remove the foil and skin from the sweet potatoes. Preheat the oven to 350°F (170 degrees Celsius).
In a large bowl using electric beaters, beat together the roasted sweet potatoes and butter until completely smooth — note you can also use a potato masher here, but I wanted a completely smooth filling. Whisk in both sugars, the whole milk, the eggs, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt and cloves, and keep whisking until everything is well combined.
Pour filling into the unbaked piecrust (again, directions here ). Bake the pie for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The pie will rise while baking and then deflate as it cools. Wait until completely cool, slice, and enjoy with whipped cream.
