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Friends, the postseason is upon us. Thanksgiving is right around the corner and it’s our Super Bowl. There are staples that absolutely must be on our Thanksgiving tables, and today I’m sharing the one classic dessert that you nearly unanimously said has to be present at your feast. This is the Sweet Potato Pie holiday episode and I hope you’re tuned in. 😊It’s time to have a lot of fun in the kitchen.
About this Sweet Potato Pie
This sweet potato pie features roasted sweet potatoes instead of boiled. The roasting process brings out the natural sweetness of the potatoes, helps those sweet potatoes maintain their structural integrity (making for a more creamy result), and also gives the pie a deeper sweet potato taste. Cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar provide the perfect accompaniment to the natural caramel notes of the sweet potatoes. The brown sugar and brown butter also enhance the caramel notes that make this pie so special.
Then, if the filling wasn’t decadent enough, you have a laminated all-butter pie dough that just complements the filling perfectly. It’s perfectly flaky and caramelizes beautifully in the oven, coming to a deep brown color that is positively irresistible for consumers.
And finally, because this is Begin with Butter and over-the-top is our template, there is a cinnamon vanilla meringue that makes your eyes roll back when it hits your tongue at the same time as that delicious filling.
This pie is one to perfect before it hits the scene on the big day. The good news is that you get to eat pie early, and the better news is that you have enough time to get proficient with the ingredients, timing and presentation if you start now!
Sweet Potato Pie Ingredients
The Crust Ingredients:
All-Purpose Flour: Okay BBs, here’s the thing. The type of flour that you use for this pie crust depends entirely on your comfort level with making pie. While I recommend all-purpose flour because of the higher protein content (leading to a lessened likelihood that the pie crust will fall apart in your hands when you’re working with it), I actually use White Lily All-Purpose Flour for my pie crust. It leads to positively crust shattering results. White Lily All-Purpose has a lower protein content (9%) than Gold Medal All-Purpose (10.5%), King Arthur All-Purpose (11.7%), and Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose (10-12%) flours. So, White Lily flour, combined with the laminating technique that I use, leads to incredible pie crust results.
Fine Sea Salt: A small touch of fine sea salt in the crust gives this pie crust delicious flavor.
Granulated Sugar: A couple of tablespoons of granulated sugar give this pie crust a nice sweetness, and also helps with caramelization. Additionally, the granulated sugar in this pie crust slightly enhances the sweetness of the sweet filling.
Cold Butter: This pie crust uses the grandaddy of all pie crust fats: BUTTER. Butter, in my humble opinion, gives pie crust the absolute best taste. The laminating process also helps ensure that this crust shatters all over your clothes like the best croissant. You’re welcome. 😊
Water: This ingredient is the bane of the existence of many a pie maker. Too little and you get a positively dry pie crust. Too much and you get a pie crust that never reaches its flaky potential. Oh, and every pie crust has a magic amount of water that only it knows before you start. There are so many variables that impact how much water a specific pie crust needs, and BB, you can only figure this out with practice. That’s why I’m releasing this recipe early for you!
The Filling Ingredients:
Roasted Sweet Potatoes: Roasted sweet potatoes provide the foundation of this delightful pie, offering an irresistibly smooth texture and natural sweetness. By roasting them, the natural sugars are coaxed out, intensifying the flavor and creating a rich base.
Brown Sugar: Brown sugar adds a deep, comforting warmth to this pie, with its caramel-like flavor. This warmth complements the sweetness of the sweet potatoes in a way that granulated sugar cannot.
Cinnamon: Cinnamon brings the most cozy warmth and aromatic spice to the pie, evoking feelings of comfort and nostalgia. This classic spice harmonizes beautifully with sweet potatoes, and creates a truly inviting flavor.
Nutmeg: Nutmeg adds a subtle yet distinctive earthy warmth, which subtly enhances the pie’s complexity.
Kosher Salt: Every dessert needs salt to balance the sweetness of all of the sugar. A little bit of kosher salt expertly balances the sweetness in this pie, allowing each ingredient to shine. By reducing cloying sweetness, salt brings out the best in the other flavors.
Evaporated Milk: Evaporated milk enriches the filling with a luxurious creaminess and subtle sweetness. Its smooth texture ensures a silky, velvety pie that gives a joyful mouthfeel.
Pure Vanilla Extract: Pure vanilla extract enhances the sweetness and adds delicate, creamy notes that perfectly round out the flavors. High-quality vanilla makes all the difference in this pie.
Bourbon: A splash of bourbon adds a sophisticated depth and complexity to the pie, with hints of smoky oak and rich warmth. Used sparingly, bourbon elevates the flavors without overpowering them. This is an optional ingredient, but it makes for an even better pie. Don’t worry about the alcohol; it cooks out during the baking process.
Beginners Start Here
If you’re new to baking, or if you want to learn how to do some of the more tricky baking techniques, here are a couple of super helpful articles from the BwB site that will help you get set up for success with this amazing Sweet Potato Pie.
- Meet Your Kitchen BFF–Your Digital Kitchen Scale!
- How to Cream Butter and Sugar (With New Video!)
- Baking 101: How to Measure Ingredients
- Knowing When to Stop a Technique
- Easy All-Butter Pie Crust
- The Basics of Butter
- How to Make Brown Butter
These resources are super helpful to help you build consistency and confidence on your baking journey, and specifically with this special pie. Happy Reading!
Important Tools Used in this Sweet Potato Pie
I am so happy to announce that Begin with Butter has its own Amazon Storefront, where you can find all of the amazing equipment that I used in this special pie! Want even more specific links? Check out the recommendations, below.
I do get paid a commission when you purchase, but these are the tools that I use all the time in my own kitchen.
If you have these tools already, great! Think of this as a checklist to help you build the confidence that you’ll need to execute this pie recipe!
- Oven Thermometer
- Digital Food Scale
- Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl Set
- OXO Spatula Set
- Pastry Cutter
- Rolling Pin
- Pastry Mat
- Pastry Brush
- Pie Dish
This pie is something to behold, BBs and I hope you love it! If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to bakingbestie@beginwithbutter.com!
Happy baking!
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Sweet Potato Pie
This sweet potato pie deserves to be the centerpiece of any dessert table. Rich notes of caramel, cinnamon, and nutmeg, complimented by a cinnamon vanilla meringue, make this delightful treat utterly decadent!
- Total Time: 0 hours
- Yield: 8 slices 1x
Ingredients
For the Pie Crust:
- 264 g (3/4 c) all-purpose flour (I love White Lily Flour for this crust)
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 182 g (13 tbsp) butter, cold
- 94 g (1/3 c) water, ice cold, plus up to two more tablespoons if needed
- 1 large egg plus one teaspoon of water, for egg wash
For the Pie Filling:
- 996 g (6 3/4 c) sweet potatoes, whole
- 2 Eggs
- 250 g (1 c) evaporated milk
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 227 g (1 c) butter, browned and cooled to room temperature
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 200 g (1 c) dark brown sugar
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp maple extract or bourbon (optional)
For the Cinnamon Vanilla Meringue (optional):
- 300 g (1 1/2 c) granulated sugar
- 5 large egg whites
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
To Make the Brown Butter:
- Place the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.
- Allow the butter to melt fully, then begin gently stirring. Continue stirring constantly.
- The butter will go through stages. At first, it will simply look like melted butter. Continue stirring.
- The next step of browned butter is the foamy step. This is the longest part of the browned butter process. Continue stirring.
- The foamy brown butter will lessen (but not eliminate entirely), and you’ll start to notice browned bits on the bottom of your saucepan. These are browned milk solids, and this is the objective!
- Once you see the browned bits on the bottom of your saucepan, remove the brown butter to a heat-proof bowl to cool completely. If you allow the brown butter to remain in the saucepan, it will burn.
- Once the brown butter has come to room temperature, allow it to come to room temperature before using it in your sweet potato pie filling. It will have the texture of an emulsion or a slurry and this is what we want.
To Make the Filling:
- Heat your oven to 400°F. Poke holes in each of the sweet potatoes and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Roast the sweet potatoes for 45-60 minutes, or until a knife goes through without resistance. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool.
- Once cooled, scoop the insides from each sweet potato. Using either a handheld blender or food processor, process the sweet potatoes until smooth.
- Place the smooth sweet potatoes into a large bowl. Add eggs and evaporated milk and mix with a hand mixer or stand mixer on low speed until combined.
- Place the brown butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl. Combine with a fork to ensure even distribution.
- Add the brown sugar mixture to the sweet potato mixture. Combine with a mixer until smooth.
- Add the pure vanilla extract and bourbon (if using) and combine until smooth.
- Set aside until the pie shell completes blind baking, then add the filling to the pie shell.
To Make the Pie:
- Add the 264 g all-purpose flour and fine sea salt to a large mixing bowl. Stir with a fork to combine.
- Add the butter to the flour mixture. Stir gently to cover the butter with the flour. Then use a pastry cutter (also known as a pastry blender) to break the butter into smaller pieces. The butter pieces should be between the size of a pea and the size of a walnut. The pieces will not be uniform and this is ideal!
- Pour the 94 g of water evenly over the flour/butter mixture and stir very gently to combine with a fork. The mixture should be shaggy but combined. If necessary, add water a tablespoon at a time until you get the correct consistency. You should not need more than 2 additional tablespoons!
- Shape the pie dough into a single fat disc and cover each disc with plastic wrap. Place in a refrigerator for at least two hours before rolling out.
- After the initial chill, place flour on a pastry mat. Place the dough disc atop the well-floured pastry mat. Flour the top of the dough disc and also your rolling pin. Test to see if the dough is ready by gently tapping your rolling pin on top of the disc; if the rolling pin makes small indentations, you’re ready to roll. Gently roll to 1/4” thickness. If the dough breaks when rolling, allow the dough to sit for 2-3 minutes and then try again. Dough often breaks when the butter is still too cold from the refrigerator.
- Once you’ve reached 1/4” thickness, fold the dough in half two times (for a photo tutorial, check out my Easy All-Butter Pie Crust post). Add flour as necessary and turn over the pie dough occasionally; don’t worry about over-flouring at this point.
- After folding the dough, roll the dough again to 1/4” thickness. Repeat this step one more time, for a total of three times.
- Brush excess flour from the top of the pie dough. Use your rolling pin to gently place the dough into a 9” pie plate. Trim the pie crust to 1” outside of the pie plate, and fold over the crust to seal. If desired, crimp or flute the crust. Place the pie plate in the refrigerator.
- Place the completed pie in the refrigerator while you warm your oven to a true 375°F, and place an oven rack in the middle of the oven. Allow your oven a significant amount of time to reach the proper temperature. I allow my oven at least 60 minutes to come to the right temperature.
- Once the oven has fully preheated, remove the pie shell from the refrigerator. Crumple a piece of parchment paper and then carefully re-open the parchment. Place the piece of parchment on top of the entire pie crust.
- Place pie weights or dried beans on top of the parchment paper and then place the pie crust in the 375°F oven for 20 minutes.
- Remove the pie crust from the oven and carefully remove the pie weights and parchment paper. Use a fork to poke holes into the bottom and sides of the pie crust (this is called “docking”). Place back into the 375°F oven for another ten minutes.
- Place remaining egg and 1 tsp of water into a small bowl. Scramble thoroughly. Set aside.
- Remove the pie crust from the oven and brush the egg wash over the entire pie crust.
- Add the filling to the pie crust and bake at 375°F for fifteen minutes. Check the pie crust to make sure that it’s not cooking too quickly. If so, remove the pie from the oven and cover the pie crust with either a pie shield or aluminum foil. Place the pie back into the oven and bake for another 40-50 minutes, or until there is just a little jiggle in the center.
- Remove the pie from the oven and allow it to cool completely at room temperature. For best results, chill overnight in the refrigerator.
To Make the Meringue:
- Bring 2” of water to a low boil in a large (3 qt.) saucepan.
- Carefully separate eggs, placing them In a clean metal bowl (either a stand mixer or a large stainless steel bowl). Add sugar and stir to combine.
- Place a metal bowl over the top of the saucepan while the water is still boiling. Whisk the egg white mixture over the saucepan until all of the sugar is completely dissolved.
- Remove the metal bowl from the stove. Add cinnamon, cream of tartar, and pure vanilla extract to the bowl.
- Using the whisk attachment on either your hand mixer or your stand mixer, whisk the mixture on the lowest speed until it is nearly opaque.
- Increase the mixer to medium speed until the mixture begins to look light and fluffy.
- Increase the mixer to the highest speed until the meringue is done. To check the meringue, remove the whisk attachment from the mixture and invert it. If the meringue slowly folds down over the whisk attachment, it’s complete.
- Using an offset spatula, quickly spread the meringue over the cooled pie. If desired, use a butane torch to toast the meringue.
Notes
- This pie is best the next day, after cooling to room temperature and further cooling overnight in the refrigerator!
- I actually allow the pie to cool in the refrigerator without the meringue. I save that step for once the pie is completely chilled (the next day).
- Prep Time: 1 hour (active)
- Rest Time: 4-24 hours
- Cook Time: 45-60 minutes