Do you recall the words of poet, Shel Silverstein, “If I eat one more piece of pie, I’ll die! If I can’t have one more piece of pie, I’ll die! So since it’s all decided I must die, I might as well have one more piece of pie.”
Well, here’s another kind of Pie Problem. Not all Pumpkin Pies are created equal…agreed? Tom and I were both convinced that this was the case. So imagine my dilemma when he thought he would only like his mother’s recipe for Pumpkin Pie, after all I was convinced that my mother’s recipe was the best.
Wasn’t I relieved to find that Tom’s mother’s Pumpkin Pie tasted just like my mother’s! Comparing the recipes later, they were almost identical. Problem solved!
Then on living in the South several years ago, I made an alteration to these recipes and substituted orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, sometimes called yams, for the pumpkin. I’ll never forget when my dad had a piece on his plate. He had already eaten a piece of Apple and a piece of Minced Meat, then he started in on the Sweet Potato. All of the sudden, I heard a low moan, “Mmmmm.” Looking over I saw him carefully scraping the whipped cream off the top of his Sweet Potato Pie. He wanted to savor it without even the whipped cream masking any of the flavor. (It was good…but I didn’t know it was that good!)
Another pie problem…what to call it? This recipe isn’t the same as a traditional Sweet Potato Pie recipe…and it certainly isn’t a Pumpkin Pie. You could call it Sweet Potato Pie, Pumpkin Style. Or you could just call it delicious! You’ll have to try it and decide for yourself.
We’ll be serving this up for our Thanksgiving Day dessert line-up AND our famous Black Friday “Pie For Breakfast”.
Sweet Potato Pie, Pumpkin Style, Recipe:
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 Tbsp flour
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp allspice
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 ½ cups mashed sweet potatoes*
- 1 ½ cups warm milk
In a bowl, add the eggs and beat slightly. Stir in sugar. Whisk in flour, salt, allspice, and cinnamon. Add sweet potatoes and warm milk and stir until smooth and creamy.
Stir together and pour into pastry lined pie pan. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for 40 minutes. Remove from heat, cool and refrigerate before serving. Can be make several days ahead of time. Serve with fresh whipped cream…. or maybe not!
*To prepare the sweet potatoes, line a baking pan with foil. Cut slits in the sweet potatoes, place on the pan and bake in the oven at 400 degrees until soft. Allow at least one hour, but maybe more depending on the size of the sweet potato. Remove flesh from the skin of the sweet potato and mash with a fork…or put it through the blender for a smoother consistency.
