Friday Pie-Day: Sweet Potato Pie (with a twist!)

I am sharing this recipe 7 weeks before November 28 because it tastes like Thanksgiving and you are going to want to try it. We modified the recipe a little with tasty results!

I don’t remember why we used canned instead of fresh sweet potatoes, but it did reduce the number of steps needed in the beginning. I don’t imagine it would be that hard to boil a sweet potato, run cold water over it, and remove the skin though.

In any case, our sweet potatoes still got “snowed” on with sugar – yum! (I bet brown sugar would taste great too!)

Beat it all together with a mixer!

Add milk and eggs…

…then some spices! Mmmm – smells like autumn!

After beating all that together, we decided to crush some pecans and add that to the batter too! Best decision ever.

Adding pecans to the batter and the top made this pie taste like Thanksgiving!

As you can see, the pecans made the pie a little lumpy, but it was totally worth it. It might have also changed the “pie will puff like a soufflé and then sink as it cools” sentence in the recipe (see below).

What originally inspired us to add the chopped pecans in the batter was the photo of the pecan half garnishes on top!  

We also decorated with dollups of whipped cream, and it tasted as good as it looked!

A little slice of Thanksgiving any time of the year!

Sweet Potato Pie (recipe adapted from All Recipes)

1 (1-lb.) sweet potato (or 1 lb. canned sweet potato, drained)

½ cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

½ cup milk

2 eggs

½ tsp. ground nutmeg

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup pecans, chopped (optional)

1 (9-inch) unbaked pie crust (storebought or just use half this recipe)

extra whole pecans for garnish (optional)

whipped cream for garnish (optional)

1. Unless using canned, boil sweet potato whole in skin for 40-50 minutes, or until done. Run cold water over the sweet potato, and remove the skin.
2. Break apart sweet potato in a bowl. Add butter and mix well with mixer. Stir in sugar, milk, eggs, nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until mixture is smooth. Add pecans if desired. Pour filling into an unbaked pie crust.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Pie will puff up like a soufflé, then sink down as it cools.
4. Decorate top with alternating dollups of whipped cream and pecan halves, and 1 dollup in the center surrounded by pecans.