sweet potato pie

love simple baked sweet potatoes or in finnish 'bataati' but in whatever language, to us it's simple comfort food!
we enjoy them often just baked for dinner with salad and bread.
some times we are lucky enough to spot a butternut squash and that just puts us over top!

we can find these u.s.a grown lovelies year round here in helsinki at about 2.50euros per kilo in most grocery stores. lucky!
so i started thinking about sweet potato pie after the pumpkin pie madness going on around here!
mr. c... as much as he loves baked sweet potatoes... well, lets say he wasn't so excited about this idea, not in pie form.
he wasn't getting why it would be a good thing, he wanted more pumpkin. well buddy your getting sweet potato pie and you're gonna like it. ha!

so began the sweet potato pie making.
making your own {fill in the blank} puree might sound a little intimidating or labor intensive. honestly this is just not complicated. think whipped sweet potatoes with spices.
health wise you have to give it some great points, being high in fiber and naturally sweetened eliminates the canned russian sweetened milk... never even missed it! honestly.
making your own puree means it is fresh.
fresh always makes me really happy.

sweet potato baking
if you've never baked sweet potatoes before this is what i do.
if you know this already you can move on...

start with a good looking sweet potato, free of soft spots.
do not store fresh sweet potatoes in the frig.

light scrub with vegetable brush under warm water, trim any bad or dark spots off.
i leave the skin on to bake.
pierce with knife tip in a few spots
do not wrap in foil as it can cause a reaction and make dark spots... not pretty. i used to wrap in parchment and over wrap in foil... i don't fuss with that any more.
bake in shallow pan @ 400f or 200c for 50-60 min depending on size.
test tenderness with fork.

making puree
if you already know how to make sweet potato puree you can skip this part too and get right to pie making :)
bake your potatoes early in the day or bake ahead a few days early you want your potatoes to be at least room temp when you start making your pie, i would worry about the eggs and milk if the potatoes were warm.
because mine were baked ahead of time and in the frig a few days the skin was easy to peel off.
yes, remove the skins before you puree :)
puree in food processor or blender or mash up then finish with a stick blender.

almost there... a few more pulses and it's ready

having a small food processor, i worked in a few batches processing the sweet  potatoes to the consistency of mashed potatoes. i found a couple chunks and just mashed them with a fork, no need to worry if you miss a few little chunks.

i probably way over explained how to make pureed sweet potatoes, but this is what you get from me. blahblahblah
so here we go.

deep dish sweet potato pie
1 deep dish pie crust (uncooked) 9 inch

2 c pureed sweet potatoes (approx 1.5 lbs or 2 md/lg sweet potatoes)
2/3 c semi-packed dark brown sugar (i can only get dark here)
1/2 c milk (i used skim, it's what i had)
2 large eggs (whisked)
2 tsp soft butter (i used margarine)
1 tsp vanilla
(whisk together spices)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 clove

stir together all the ingredients except puree mixing well.
fold in puree mixture into sugar/egg/spice mixture.
mix well.

pour into pie crust. bake @ 425f for 10 minutes turn down to 375f bake 45-50 minutes or until knife comes out clean. cook on rack for 2 hours. serve with whipped cream.

holy dark filling! the filling looks way darker in the photo than it really was. the crappy looking top texture also settled as it cooled. sorry no picture as soon as it cooled we cut into it... big time.... with whipped cream!

results:
you know... it's all homey looking, apparently this is how my pies are going to look! oh well!
the crazy flower crust thing... i have a couple sunflowers on my running path that are still hanging on and cheering me on as i run... i swear they are!
rambling... hahahaha
mr.c said the pie was just as good as the pumpkin pie a little differnt in texture but very much enjoyed it and the spices were right on...
thank you doubting thomas.
btw, his name really is thomas. ha. and doubting thomas asked why i didn't have a heart in the middle. i was all like... reallllly? next time he will get another heart. awwwe.

i thought it was very good. i love me some ginger and thought i could have added a little more. next time, i will and let you know. this is now our go-to pie when the autumn pie craving hits!

hope you have a happy day!
xox tracie