Sweet Potato Pie

I went to the grocery store tonight, since they had cream cheese for 99 cents. When it gets this low in price, I do the annual stock-up for cheesecake season. See, this cheesecake has made me famous between our families, and well, that cheesecake calls for 4 blocks of cream cheese. It can get spendy during the holiday season, so it’s always fun to go to the store to stock up and request 30ish boxes of cream cheese. A bit crazy, but I use every last bit of it. 🙂

I was thinking about cheesecake the other day when it came to brainstorming Thanksgiving recipes, and what bothered me is that I never make something traditional for the holiday. So, I wanted to try to make sweet potato pie.

When I went to Fresh Summit, I connected with a company called Frieda’s Produce, and they generously offered to send me one of their featured produce items for me try. When I saw these potatoes on their list, I just had to try them, and the first thing that popped in my head was to try pie. Yes, these are purple sweet potatoes, and I can’t tell you how many times I was asked if I used food dye to enhance the color. Nope…these potatoes are very purple. It’s gorgeous, and they taste great, too!

This pie was definitely the classic pie that I’ve loved for years. It’s not too sweet, but with the bourbon and molasses in there, the flavor was much deeper and richer. This dessert makes me want to curl up on the couch with an electric blanket and drink warm hot chocolate along with a slice of this.

Sweet Potato Pie
Source: filling from Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook, pie crust via Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. sweet potatoes
• 2 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs + 2 large yolks
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 tbsp. bourbon
• 1 tbsp. molasses
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 recipe pie dough (this recipe is meant for a double-crust pie, so half will work for this single-crust pie), partially baked and still warm

Directions:

1. Move the oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Poke each sweet potato several times with a paring knife or fork all over the entire surface. Place the potatoes on a paper towel-lined microwave safe plate and microwave the potatoes until they are tender, but not completely mushy (about 10 minutes…the purple potatoes need to cook longer so they took 15 minutes), being sure to flip the potatoes halfway through the microwaving. Take the sweet potatoes out of the microwave, and peel the skin off of each sweet potato carefully while holding the potato with a towel or potholder to prevent from burning yourself. You should end up with about 2 cups of sweet potato after peeling.
3. While the potatoes are still hot, add the butter and mash the sweet potatoes with a potato masher until a few small lumps remain. In a medium bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar, eggs, egg yolks, nutmeg and salt. Add in the bourbon, molasses and vanilla extract, and stir those into the potato mixture. Whisk in the milk.
4. Slowly add the egg mixture to the mashed potato mixture, stirring/whisking gently until just combined.
5. Sprinkle the dark brown sugar evenly over the pre-baked pie crust, and then pour the sweet potato mixture on top. Bake the pie for about 45 minutes, until the edges are set, but the center will still jiggle slightly when shaken. Allow the pie to cool to room temperature before serving.

Disclosure: I was sent a 5 lb. case of Stokes Purple Sweet Potatoes at no cost to me to sample. All opinions are 100% my own.