So after a somewhat crappy series of days last week, I got to end the week with something awesome: meeting up with Kylie from Imma Eat That!! It was pretty much on par with meeting Izy or Michelle–Kylie’s like my healthy-eating blog celebrity idol and she also lives in Houston! We met for tacos and she was so bubbly and funny and helpful and it was just a great lunch. Except for the part where I accidentally ordered a breakfast taco that had BACON alll up in it, but even when I sat there picking it out, she pretended she didn’t mind.
Today, the day before Thanksgiving, seems like a good time to start talking about thankfulness. I hope it goes without saying that I am so thankful for this blog, and so thankful for you, my readers!
But also: new friends like Kylie, and one of my best real-life friends, Annie. Annie is one of those fearless people who constantly seek out totally non-traditional, totally awesome life adventures–her latest adventure brings her to TANZANIA in just a few short weeks through an organization called Mama Hope. Through Mama Hope, Annie will help build a boarding house in Mlali, Tanzania, where her team will implement sustainable gardens to enhance the nutrition and learning environment of the children. YAY! You can watch a video of the adorable children she will be helping here.
Annie is running a campaign to help implement these gardens, build a community center and more during her trip. I hope, if you have the ability this holiday season, that you’ll join me in donating to this worthy cause! Everything helps!
You can check out her campaign here: stayclassy.org/annemarieqea
Onto pie! Long ago, I had my first (and favorite ever) slice of sweet potato pie at Delancey, an amazing restaurant in San Francisco that helps people who are trying to rebuild their lives (read more about it here). While I’m sure the flavor was great, what I remember most was the size of the immense orange wedge. All pie. As a side dish (not even dessert)!!
I finally got around to trying it and man, is this a giant of a recipe. It’s not vegan or particularly healthy, but it is exactly what I’ve been craving all these years: towering height and an ultra-smooth, lightly spiced filling. (Note: I tried Ashlae’s vegan pie crust, but it came out a rather one-dimensional instead of flaky. I blame only myself for using half whole-wheat flour and my poor kneading skills. If you trust your pie crust-ing skills, I’d definitely give her recipe a try; otherwise, just use your favorite pie crust.)
I made both this pie and a sweet potato casserole this past weekend and used a similar process of boiling and blending the sweet potatoes before mixing in the spices. This resulted in a really dense sweet potato casserole, but a perfectly silky and not-too-dense pie, thanks to the leavening of the eggs. Conclusion: if you like fluffy sweet potatoes, hand-mash them for casseroles. However, blending is key to a super-silky, non-stringy pie filling!
Happy Thanksgiving!
This pie was also made with the help of the amazing J.Q. Dickinson salt.
Sweet Potato Pie
Ingredients
- 1 recipe your favorite 8-9" inch pie crust
- 2 large sweet potatoes 2 cups cooked
- 1 scant cup sugar
- ¼ cup unsalted butter softened
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon flaky sea salt
- whipped cream salted caramel, and/or more sea salt, for serving
Instructions
- Peel and chop the sweet potatoes into chunks. Boil until tender. Drain and let cool for at least 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Add cooked sweet potatoes to a high-powered blender. Blend until smooth. Add sugar and blend again until smooth. Add butter and blend until incorporated. Add eggs, one at a time, blending after each addition. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.
- Pour mixture into an unbaked pie crust. I used a 7.75" round baking pan for an extra-deep dish pie, but you can also use a standard deep dish pie tin.
- Bake at 400° for 15 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350° and continue baking until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean, about 40 more minutes (baking time will depend on the size of your pie tin).
- Let cool completely before serving. I served slices with a dollop of whipped cream, a drizzle of salted caramel and some leftover oat crumbles I had from my casserole.
Hi there,
Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but just wanted to let you know that a different blogger stole your material here and presented it as their own:
https://cbfoodie.wordpress.com/2014/11/27/sweet-potato-pie/
Boo for people who steal your hard work and beautiful art! (If it makes you feel any better, she did the same to me for several recipes + my entire About page!)
But, google imaging the photos on her site did get me to find your lovely blog, so I guess there’s a silver lining in everything. Love your blog, love this post, and so glad to have found you!
Hi Erika! Hope you are doing well! This pie look so gorgeous!! Love how tall it is! Would you believe I have never had sweet potato pie?? As much as I use sweet potatoes in my recipes (caramel, pancakes, muffins, LOL) I have never actually had the pie….I am not a big pie person unless it is chocolate. I’m real weird with certain textures. I am definitely intrigued to try this though…maybe it would change my mind about sweet potato pie. I don’t like pumpkin pie at all, but sweet potatoes I would imagine to be MUCh better!
Oh no!!! I just overcame pumpkin and pecan pie obsessions, now I suddenly realize I never made a sweet potato pie – got to try at least once! Help!! :-)) (yours looks fabs btw! 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving to you, Erika! This pie looks so drool-worthy and how could I miss Delancey! Glad you posted it here and now I have a mission in mind.
Omg so Thanksgiving may be over but this sky-high silky-smooth knockout of a sweet potato pie is demanding that I make it right now. Oh my Jesus it looks SOSO good. Boo for crappy days 🙁 hope this week was splendid and you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, friend!
Oh Cynthia, you have such a way with words–love you, thank you, and same to you!! <3
I love baking with sweet potatoes and this pie looks insane. The thickness of that silky smooth filling!
Thanks Kathryn!! <3
I’ve never made or had sweet potato pie before, but I loooooove pumpkin pie, so I’m assuming I’d looooove sweet potato pie as well. Am I right? Only one way to find out! I’m making some pies tonight for a Thanksgiving dinner I’ve got tomorrow, so maybe I’ll mix things up and do one pumpkin (can’t live without it) and one sweet potato. Love that dish, by the way. Looks perfect for a super deep dish pie!
Ooh yes I hope that you’d love it! Idk, if you’re really a huge pumpkin pie lover, I worry that this looks so aesthetically similar that you might bite into it and be disappointed if it doesn’t taste exactly like pumpkin…? Hopefully not! Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration!! <3
I’m ridiculously jealous that you and Kylie got to have lunch together, and ridiculously determined to be a third wheel at the next one. Not sure how that is going to happen. But whatever.
So, anyway…I have never made sweet potato pie because it always sounded strange to me but you make it look so good!!
Oh my gosh PLEASE. That would be so so fun!!! I also totally thought sweet potato pie was weird until I tried it. I know it’s kind of like carbs on carbs on carbs…but it’s still so good <3
Seriously. So dreamy.
😉 <3
I LOOOOVE THIS! That color! That height! Awesome that you like the salt enough to use it in more recipes. Isn’t it divine?! I love how that sweet potato pie filling is so simple — pie is perfect when it’s simple. p.s. I had the same issue with Ashlae’s crust — what’s up w that?!
Aww thanks Renee! It is SO divine–thanks so much for introducing me to it! I seriously love it. That salt + caramel is just extra heavenly.
And I’m glad to hear it wasn’t just me that had issues with the crust! I had to work it a lot to get it to stay together and thought that might have made the crust tough…in any case, sigh. At least the filling was good 😉
Looks amazing and love that there aren’t a bajillion unknown ingredients!!
Mmm now that is a pie! I love sweet potato, much more than I love pumpkin, so this sounds like a delightful alternative 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving to you, dearest Erika! I’m so thankful that we met through our blogs and have become friends. You’re one of the smartest, sweetest, funniest, most talented ladies I know and I can’t wait until we meet in real life. It’s one of my goals 🙂 This pie needs to happen in my life, pronto. That smooth, creamy filling is calling my name!
Aww ditto to the MAX, Nancy!! Meeting IRL is also one of my goals too. Someday this will happen and it will be glorious!!!