Sweet Potato Pudding (Pie)

 

If you like pumpkin pie, you will love this sweet potato pudding dessert, based on an 18th century recipe.

Prep Time: About 30-45 minutes to boil down your sweet potato and mix everything together. Add time to this if you plan to make your own pie crust from scratch.

Cook Time: 30-40 minutes in the oven.

Ingredients

  • 1 sweet potato (get a large one, about one pound)
  • 5 large eggs
  • 1 and 1/2 cups of sugar + about 2 tablespoons to dress the top of the pie after baking
  • 3/4 lb of butter (this is about 3 sticks from your typical package)
  • 1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel (I used lemon juice instead)
  • 2-4oz. of your favorite liquor. Something sweet is of course, better. The original recipe calls for French brandy, but I used a dark mango rum.

Pango rum made by Rhum Barbancourt in Haiti is a dark mango rum and is absolutely delicious. Unfortunately, it is not as widely available as its mainstream cousin.

  • 1/4 -1/2 cup of candied citron bits (I did not add this part to mine)
  • 1 sheet ready to bake pie crust (or you can make your own if you’re really enterprising)

 

Directions

  1. Peel and boil sweet potato until soft. Drain it and let it cool slightly.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, mash the sweet potato with your hand so that there are little or no lumps.

3. In another medium mixing bowl, beat the eggs thoroughly

4. Add the sugar, butter, nutmeg, lemon juice (or peel), and liquor to the eggs, mixing well.

5. Blend this mixture into the mashed sweet potato thoroughly.

6. Line a pie plate with your pie crust.

I used my fingers to create a “scalloped” edge to the pie crust.

7. Fill the pie to within a half inch of the top edge of the pie crust.

8. Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes. DO NOT let the top get dark brown, but make sure the pie crust is baked enough.

9. Sprinkle the 2 tablespoons of sugar over the top right after the pie comes out of the oven. Be sure to cover the whole top evenly. The sugar will set into the surface of the pie and give it a nice crunchy layer. Garnish the edge of the pie with the citron bits (not shown). Let the pie cool and solidify a bit before eating.

Pumpkin pie is my favorite and this pie is now a close second.

This is a great way to finish out the evening. And unlike pumpkins, sweet potatoes are available year-round. (Yes, you can use canned pumpkin, but that’s not as fun and fresh, right?) You could use the same recipe to make small “mini” pies out of this, which I’m going to try at some point.