Sweet Potato Pie

Sweet potato pie is a staple in the South and for good reason. This pie can be used for Thanksgiving or at Sunday dinner. Top it with a little bit of whipped cream and it’s delicious. It doesn’t take long and it’s easier than pumpkin pie to make. So if you’re wondering what to do with the last of your sweet potatoes from last year’s harvest, put them to good use making a delicious pie for your family this weekend. Alternatively you could make one to bring to a friends house as a sweet reminder that you care.

Ingredients:

• 3 large sweet potatoes
• 1 Cup of butter melted
• 5 eggs beaten
• One 12 ounce can of evaporated milk
• 1 Cup of white sugar
• 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 3 pie shells thawed

Directions:

1. Bake the sweet potatoes when finished remove the sweet potatoes from their jackets. Mash the innards of the sweet potatoes in a bowl.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. Mix the butter, eggs, and mashed sweet potatoes together in a bowl. Once mixed together smoothly, mix in the milk, sugar, flour, vanilla extract, nutmeg, baking powder, and lemon juice.
4. Pour the sweet potato mixture into the three different pie shells. Be certain to give an even amount to each pie shell.
5. Bake in your preheated oven for 10 minutes before lowering the oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Then continue to bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the pie comes out clean which should be about 40 more minutes.
6. Remove the pies from the oven once the toothpick comes out clean. Place the pies on a cooling rack for at least 30 minutes. Once the pies are cool enough to touch, they can be placed in the refrigerator in your favorite pie holding pan.

Tips:

• When baking your sweet potatoes before mashing them, place them on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until a toothpick is easily inserted or they dent easily with the tip of a spoon. This should take approximately 30 to 45 minutes. If using a wood stove, be sure to rotate the potatoes so that they don’t burn.
• When cooling your pie on the wire rack, place a clean kitchen towel over top in order to keep insects, dust, pets, and other assorted things out of it.
• You can add walnuts, pecans, Maple syrup extract, Maple syrup, cloves, or cinnamon to the sweet potato mixture in order to give an extra pop to flavor.
• Excellent toppings for your sweet potato pie include whipped cream, ice cream, Maple syrup, caramel syrup, chocolate syrup, drizzled molasses, slivered almonds, and powdered sugar.
• Sweet potato pies or best served after a dinner. They are best served chilled and are often complemented with eggnog.
• When you use powdered sugar there is a way to decorate it with paper doilies. Take the paper doily and hold it just above these sweet potato pies center where the filling is. And as you hold it there just above the center lightly dust, or have someone else slightly dust, powdered sugar over the doily. This will leave a beautiful intricate design behind. The closer you have it to the surface, the nicer the design.