Week 9- Sweet Potato Pie

It's Week 9 and I'm not even going to lie to you- I don't have a cute story as to why I made sweet potato pie.  I'm just treading water here until I hit some holidays where I can make a themed pie or until yummy fruit season. 

I have to say, when I mention sweet potato pie, everybody's reaction seems to be "Meh".  One person asked me "Why make sweet potato pie? Pumpkin tastes the same and it's a lot easier."  Well, I sort of have 52 pie slots to fill, that's why.  And I actually like sweet potato pie. 

However, I did make one tactical error with timing.  This pie was slated for the same day I promised my older daughter I would make her favorite side dish, mashed potatoes.  After mashing various types of potatoes all day, my right arm is sore.

Getting a little help...

As I reviewed recipes, I decided to go with a sweet potato pie from Joy the Baker.  I really enjoy her blog, but I don't think I've ever made one of her recipes.  This pie intrigued me because a) it was her dad's recipe.  The pie world is all about recipes passed down from moms and grandmas.  It's rare to see male ownership of a pie recipe.  And b) it also features a no- roll crust which I wanted to try.

The pie was really good.  My older daughter actually asked for a piece and deemed it "delicious."  The filling was sort of custardy and a little bit spicy.  The crust didn't look too great- it cooked a bit faster than I expected, but it was tasty.  It wasn't flaky, but thicker and buttery.  I would definitely use it again, but would shield the crust so it didn't brown too quickly.  Also, I wouldn't call the crust "easy".  While you don't need to roll the dough, you do need to grate frozen butter on a cheese grater. Trust me, that's not super easy after you've been mashing potatoes.

Something I wanted to share this week, is a cute little thing I've been doing with my older daughter.  She is learning how to write so for Christmas I bought her a notebook that we keep as her "pie journal".  Each week I write down the pie and make a few comments about it.  Then my daughter writes the pie too (I thought it would be cute to look back at the end of the year and see how much she's progressed.)  Here is this week's entry...

Dad's Sweet Potato Pie
Adapted from Joy the Baker
Recipe for Sweet Potato Pie

2 cups mashed cooked sweet potatoes (I used 2 large sweet potatoes which was just over 2 cups)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 5 ounce cans evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla

I cut up the sweet potatoes and boiled them.  When they were soft I mashed them up.  Now Joy says there should be no lumps.  LOL- I'm lazy.  There were some lumps.

Measure 2 cups of the potatoes and put in a medium sized pot with the brown sugar, spices, melted butter and one can of the evaporated milk.  Cook on low for about 5 minutes or until it bubbles.  Remove and let cool.

In a medium bowl, beat the eggs.  Add the second can of evaporated milk, sugar and vanilla to the egg mixture and stir until creamy.  Pour the sweet potato mixture into a large bowl and then whisk in the egg mixture.  I refrigerated this while I made the pie crust.

Pie Crust

1 1/2  cups flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup frozen butter that has been grated on a cheese grater
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon cream cheese
2 tablespoons cold milk- (although I ended up adding more milk)

Combine flour, salt, baking powder and sugar. 

Add the frozen butter and the cream cheese to the dry ingredients.  Combine with a fork, making sure that all of the flour mixture is introduced to the liquid.  I used about 4 tablespoons of milk since my mix was too dry.  (This didn't surprise me because I always have to add extra water to my go-to pie crust recipe.)  Dump the dough into a pie plate and press into the pan.  This part was very similar to what you do with a graham cracker crust.

Put the prepared crust into the freezer while you preheat the oven.

When the oven is preheated, add the sweet potato filling to the crust.  I had a good amount of filling that didn't fit into the crust.

Heat the oven to 450 degrees with a cookie sheet inside.  Put the filled pie shell on the hot cookie sheet.  Bake at 450 for 10 minutes, then lower the temp to 325 and bake for 1 hour more until the center is raised an puffed.

Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 1 hour.

Note: Joy's dad does know how to make a good pie!

Excuse me, there's a camel in my pie.