Sweet Potato Pie

Each year at Instructables we have a holiday cook-off, where everyone makes a traditional holiday dish and we compete to see whose is the best and which recipe will climb the pageview ranks.  I needed something slightly different than my award-winning Pumpkin Pie, and so choose Sweet Potato Pie.

This Sweet Potato Pie recipe is a triangulation of three recipes:  The Best Sweet Potato Pie from Cooks Illustrated; Sweet Potato Meringue Pie from Gourmet Today; and Sweet Potato Pecan Pie from Rosie's Bakery All-Butter, Fresh Cream, Sugar-Packed, No-Holds-Barred Baking Book.

I thought Cooks Illustrated's recipe didn't have enough fat and the others were lacking in flavors besides sweet.  Putting them together yields a pie that's rich without being heavy and is clearly sweet potato (including small chucks of sweet potato flesh), but has complimentary flavors of whiskey, molasses, and caramelized brown sugar. 

Step 1 Ingredients

Sweet Potato Pie Filling
2 pounds sweet potatoes (see the size of my 6 in the images)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
3 large eggs
2 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1/2 - 1 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons whiskey (Cooks Illustrated suggests bourbon; use whatever whiskey type you've got!)
1 tablespoon molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup whole milk
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

Crust
1 1/4 cups unbleached flour
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut apart in a bunch of small pieces
1/4 cup vegetable shortening - non-hydrogenated palm oil if you can find it; Crisco or crisco-like shortening if you can't
2 tablespoons cold vodka
2 tablespoons water

Comments

[jrossetti]

I used two pie tins that were the same size instead of lining the inside of the crust with foil - I'm still a beginner-level aluminum foil user.  I still used weights.  It worked pretty well.

[ewilhelm]

Great idea.  I'll see if that works for me.

If you have any pictures, post a Slideshow or Instructable!

[possum888]

 Looks delicious! In New Zealand, this would be called Kumara Pie :)

[JohnJY]

Great time for an Instructable! My local market-place was having a sell on sweet potatoes, so I just got done putting it in the oven! Thanks a ton! 

[canida]

Tasty, but not in the same league as last year's award-winning pumpkin pie, or my eggnog. ;)

[Joe Martin]

This looks delicious, I'm not all that keen on pies like this but the fact I love sweet potato and like trying new things will mean that I will be making this!

=D

[microman171]

Don't you think featuring this is cheating?  :-P

I thought it was a well made instructable.  So it should be!  You are the owner after all =)

I will have to give this a shot!

[jtp139]

mmm, sounds yummy, i'm gonna try it for thanksgiving!

[Ninzerbean]

I am a big fan of Kettle One but you don't say why you put it in the pie crust. What does it do? Baking is science, I just need to know the "why" of this. Great photos and 'ible. BYW, I make my pumpkin pies with butternut squash, no one can tell and they always say mine are the best pumpkin pies. Shhhhhh.

[ewilhelm]

The vodka helps get the water balance in the pie crust right for mixing, but evaporates during baking.  Check out the other pie crust Instructables for more information.

[jrossetti]

I will have to try this tonight with mini tart pans in my toaster oven.