Gingery Sweet Potato Pie
It’s never a good idea to admit you’re a loser over the internet. But let me come clean.
This pie lost my family’s Holiday Pie-off. The Sistaster’s Chocolate Pecan pie was the victor. So why I am burdening you with a losing pie recipe?
Oh my, for many reasons:
One – it’s really hard to compete with a supersweet pie. In fact, in a blind taste test people tend to prefer Pepsi on the first sip as it has a sweeter first bite than Coke. But in a longer drink-a-full-can-type taste test, the more balanced flavor of Coke wins out. Now I’m not comparing my pie to can of Coke but after a huge holiday meal I think my family’s senses were pretty darned dulled and couldn’t appreciate the subtlety of my Gingery Sweet Potato Pie.
Two – my pie is made mostly of real food. Real vegetables. The heart and soul of my pie are three beautiful winter-resistant tubers. That’s just got to win some points over a pie mostly made of corn syrup.
Three – I think I overbaked the pie I made for the Pie-off. The siblings do not forgive overcooking.
Four – The Sistaster doesn’t write a food blog of her own - therefore nary a word will come in her defense from the internet ether (unless she chooses to leave a comment below, in which case I can only plead to be kind, dear sister, be kind.)
So go on. For reasons one, two, and three above, make and enjoy this lovely pie. And in the name of the New Year, please forgive me for being a loser, and forget reason number four.
Time: 20 mintues active time plus about 2 hours baking time
Serves: depends on how many slices of pie you like. 4-12.
Gingery Sweet Potato Pie
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Pick the whole sweet potatoes with a fork and bake them on a
foil-lined baking sheet until tender, about an hour.
For crust:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus additional for buttering pie plate
Flour for dusting
1 1/2 cups finely crushed gingersnap cookies (5 oz; 30 2-inch cookies)
3/4 cup finely chopped almonds or walnuts (2 oz), toasted
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
Meanwhile, start the crust by buttering and flouring a 9″ pie pan.
In a medium bowl, mix together melted butter, gingersnap crumbs,
almonds, sugar and salt.
Press a 1/4 inch thick layer on the bottom, then build an even layer
up the sides. Chill in the refrigerator until filling is ready.
For filling:
1 1/2 lbs sweet potatoes, (about 3 large)
2 large eggs
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 tsp vanilla
Split potatoes in half legthwise to cool. Peel.
In a blender, blend together the potatoes, eggs, cream, sugar, salt,
cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and vanilla.
Pour the filling into the crust and bake for 50 mintues or until the
center is solid and the filling close to the crust is just barely starting to crack.
Cool pie on rack about 1 hour.
January 5th, 2008 12:21
As the victor of the family bake-off, I’m glad to leave the first comment for two reasons. A) I want to state for the record that the bake-off was not my idea. It is a well known fact that, while Vanessa is the hands-down cook of the siblings, I am the baker. While our family is one run on the juices of competition, this is one humiliation that I would never subject Vanessa to, if it weren’t for her own insistence that she could outdo me at my own game. And B) let it be known that during the judging I gave Vanessa’s pie a better ranking than my own oh-so-sweet chocolate pecan pie. As the chef de la famille, she does have a wonderful sense of invention, ingrediants, and novelty. I thought her use of ginger and the texture of the crust and filling were divine, if not performed a bit sloppily. My pie - while apparently delicious - was a standard that could have used some of her flare. So what if I was the only sibling who gave her pie a higher ranking than my own? All’s fair in love and cooking.
January 7th, 2008 03:42
Happy new year Vanessa. And oh my. Your gingery pie looks just glorious. While I know there are people that use sweet potato in desserts, it’s virtually non-existent here in Aus. Sweet potatoes are for baking and . . . that’s . . . about it.
But I love the idea of a spicey-sweet VEGETABLE pie. Well done.
January 7th, 2008 11:07
haha, real vegetables versus corn syrup. it seems as if the people have spoken, corn syrup for everyone!
p.s. - the pie looks really good
January 15th, 2008 00:05
Hmm. Wonder how this will work without the pie crust? A gluten-free, vegan, nut-free (etc, etc) crust has thus far escaped me.