Sweet Potato Pie

It’s great when two distinct events align and open your eyes to an opportunity. First, my childhood friend Hildy recently gifted me the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook. At about the same time, the chefs at my Community College Culinary program requested that I come up with two dessert ideas for an upcoming luncheon with the theme of “Southern Cuisine”. As I paged through the Magnolia book I came upon a recipe for Sweet Potato Pie - “a southern favorite”. Problem solved!

This recipe has two pretty straightforward parts - the crust and the filling. The crust recipe uses a technique with a pastry blender where you cut chilled butter cubes into the flour, sugar and salt mixture to create little pea-sized pieces. When baked, the steam from these little butter chunks makes the crust flakey.

The filling has a nice blend of spices including ginger and nutmeg, which gives it a little bit of heat. I also swapped in an apple liqueur for the bourbon - I’ve used and liked this combination in soups and I think it tastes good in this recipe. If bourbon is your preference, it is part of the original recipe and will work well.

For the luncheon, I served this with maple extract flavored whipped cream and sprinkled it with flakes of crystallized ginger. Experimenting with flavors is what makes baking fun so have at it and do it your way!

Sweet Potato Pie

Prep Time: Crust (30 minutes with the bake); Filling (15 minutes); Bake Time: 45-55 minutes. Makes one 9-inch pie.

Ingredients

Crust

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick = 4 oz) cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

2-3 tablespoons ice water

Filling

4 tablespoons (½ stick - 2 oz) unsalted butter, softened

¼ cup sugar

¼ cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 ½ cups mashed sweet potato, fresh or canned, well drained

2 large eggs, room temperature

½ cup milk, room temperature

2 tablespoons bourbon

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon salt

The Recipe

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

For the Pie Crust

1. In a large bowl, place the flour, suagar and salt; using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until the pieces are pea-size.

2. Sprinkle the ice water by tablespoons over the the flour mixture, tossing with a fork until all the dough is moistened.

3. Form the dough into a ball. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to fit into a 9-inch glass pie dish. Fold the edges under the rim and then crimp (any style you like) all the way around.

4. Cover the shell with foil and spread pie weights evenly across the foil. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from the oven, and carefully take out the weights and the foil.

5. Cool on a wire rack. Turn down the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the Pie Filling

1. In a medium-size bowl, on the low speed of an electric mixer, use the paddle to cream the butter and sugars until fluffy - about 3 minutes.

2. Add the sweet potato, eggs, milk, and bourbon - beat until well combined.

3. Add the vanilla extract and the spices and mix well. Pour the filling into the prepared crust and bake for 45-55 minutes, until the filling is fairly set or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the pie comes out clean.

4. Allow pie to cool on a rack for 30 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Note: Adapted from a recipe by Jennifer Appel and Allysa Torey, authors of The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook, that is included in their chapter of Pies. I used fresh sweet potato and substituted apple liqueur for the bourbon - I find the apple flavor goes well with sweet potato.