THE BEST SWEET POTATO PIE

Sweet Potato Pie is what my boyfriend likes, he won't eat pumpkin pie. I personally don't think I could really tell the difference if I was blindfolded and given a bite of each and asked which was which. They both taste pretty similar to me. Anyway, since being with my boyfriend I usually get sweet potato pies since that is what he likes and it doesn't matter to me. Last year was my first attempt at making one and it turned out just ok. I wasn't impressed and neither was he, lol. So this year I went with a new recipe and I think I have a winner winner chicken dinner here! Here is what you need and how to make it:


Ingredients

• 1 (1 pound) sweet potato
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 (9 inch) unbaked DEEP DISH pie crust

Directions

• Boil sweet potato whole in skin for 40 to 50 minutes, or until done. Run cold water over the sweet potato, and remove the skin.
• Break apart sweet potato in a bowl. Add butter, and mix well with mixer. Stir in sugars, milk, eggs, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, flour and lemon juice. Beat on medium speed until mixture is smooth. Pour filling into an unbaked pie crust.
• Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 55 to 60 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Pie will puff up like a souffle, and then will sink down as it cools.

First, you need to boil your potatoes. I started doing this and forgot to take pictures as I was going along, whoops! I just buy frozen pre-made crusts. They turn out just as good without all the headache of making your own. It's one of those things that I don't really have an interest in perfecting, I guess because I don't make enough pies to warrant it. Since I bought a two pack of crusts, I doubled this recipe.


After you get your potatoes peeled, put them in your mixing bowl with butter and mix them up. This smelled really good!



Dump in the rest of the ingredients. And give them a good mix. Pour mix into an unbaked pie crust.



My pies in the oven ready for baking. I place my pies on a cookie sheet to catch any spills, which I most definitely had. I usually line the pan with foil for easier clean up. I forgot to last night - oops!



You can see I fill my pies pretty full. When it cooks, the tops do puff up, but it doesn't cause the liquid to spill out over the sides too much, so I fill em up and try to use all the mix I made. The amount of mix can sometimes vary depending on the size of your sweet potatoes. Also, please note I use the deep dish crusts. Last year I only got the regular crusts and two potatoes made four pies. Which was too many for just my family. So unless you are bringing the pies somewhere and need several, I would go with a deep dish crust.

Also, to keep the crusts from getting to brown while cooking, when they reach the color I like, I put a large piece of foil over the tops of the pies. This keeps them from browning any more while baking. I just place the foil on the tops, don't press down or even try to get the foil "wrapped" around the pies, just lay it on top.





Take the pies out and let them cool on a wire rack. I taste tested some of the spillage from the pie on the cookie sheet and gave a bite to Little, who said "Good, tastes real good". When I tasted my little nibble, it really was good. Very sweet and tasty. I was getting excited that this recipe just might be "it".




So while the pie was still just a tad warm me and my son had some. It was really, really good. I thought it was sweet enough to NOT need whip cream, which to me has always been a problem with pumpkin pie, it needs whip cream to sweeten it up. Of course that didn't stop me and Little from topping our pies off with just a bit of whip cream! We actually even went back and had another slice each! What you see missing from the pie above is the damage just me and my 7 yr old son did to one pie.


As far as passing the boyfriend (Ricco) test - I think I got an "A". He says that I did a damn good job and even wants to be sure and save some to compare it with against his moms! He is off work today, so I am curious to see how much pie will be left by the time I get home tonight . . .