Sweet Potato Pie

Techie Smurf has been doing some research on his Ancestry account, and we probably have 1/4 roots in the South.  That explains why almost every Southern dish I try is like a "where have you been all my life?" moment.  Can't get into okra or New Orleans cuisine, though.

I've never made sweet potato pie, but I did have one crust left from the coconut-lime assignment.  After a bit of online research and a glance at what I had on hand, I decided to wing it.

I'll tell you right now, I only used the coconut oil because I had the jar of it.  That's why it says "or butter" in the recipe.  I decided to make that my fancy and unique flavoring for this one.  (It was originally going to be a tablespoon of bourbon.)

This recipe most closely resembles Paula Deen's from an older issue of Good Housekeeping.  The main change was swapping maple syrup for part of the sugar, making the vanilla unnecessary.  After that, it was all little tweaks.

2 C pre-baked sweet potato mash
*4 oz (1/2 C) cream cheese
2 Tb *coconut oil or butter
1/4 C sugar
1/4 C maple syrup
*2 eggs
1/2 C half-and-half (somehow I bought fat free 1/2 & 1/2.  How is that a thing?)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
*unbaked crust for one 9" pie

1.  Preheat oven to 350º.  If you need to cook your potatoes, pierce several times with a fork and bake for one hour, until soft.  Slit open when cool enough to handle and scrape out insides.  You could also do it in the microwave, but the roasted flavor really adds something to the pie.  I don't recommend canned or boiled because the moisture content is much higher and will change the consistency of the finished pie.  My best recommendation is to make this pie after a holiday dinner, when there's always a couple of extra baked sweet potatoes left over.

2.  Cream together sweet potato pulp, cream cheese, and coconut oil.  Add sugar and syrup and beat again.  Add eggs, half-and-half, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and beat until smooth.

3.  Pour filling into crust.  Bake for one hour, or until middle is set.  Cool slowly, first in oven, to reduce cracking.  If necessary to hide cracks, slather with whipped cream.  Best served room temperature.

Serves 8

Difficulty rating  π