Old Fashioned Sweet Potato Pie

Oh lord, this sweet potato pie is fantastic. It's an absolute winner! It's sweet, quintessential southern cooking that just screams "Thanksgiving" and "The Holidays." One piece of pie is like tasting a little slice of heaven. Should I go on?

I used three sweet potatoes, which I picked up at farmers market yesterday afternoon- the day before Thanksgiving. In order to cook 2 cups of sweet potatoes, I peeled them and cut them into rounds and then quartered each round. I put a very small pat of butter in a sauce pan and then added the sweet potatoes. I added 1/2 cup of water to the pot and then covered it. I repeated this step as necessary, basically each time the water evaporated or was absorbed. The steam and water cooked them perfectly...within about 15 minutes they were ready for mashing. For other suggestions on how to cook sweet potato- click here. 

Once the pie was half way done baking in the oven, I started working on the meringue. It was a cinch to whip up. I topped the pie with little peaks of meringue and put it back in the oven for 10 minutes.   

When I took the pie out of the oven the whole house smelled sweet and wonderful. It's one gorgeous looking pie, if I do say so myself! I served it for dessert and while there were only three of us, there was almost nothing left in the pie pan by the time we were done.  

Enjoy and happy holidays!

Old Fashioned Sweet Potato Pie (Courtesy of Paula Deen)

• 2 cups peeled, cooked sweet potatoes
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 stick melted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 to 2 tablespoons bourbon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 cup milk
• 9-inch unbaked pie crust
• 3 egg whites

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the filling, using an electric hand mixer, combine the potatoes, 1 cup of the sugar, the butter, eggs, vanilla, salt, and spices. Mix thoroughly. Add the milk and continue to mix. Pour the filling into the pie crust and bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean - the original recipe says it takes 35-45 minutes, but my not-so-great oven took about 1 1/4 hours). Place the pie on a rack and cool to room temperature before covering with meringue.

For the meringue, using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form; beat in the remaining 1/4 cup sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Continue beating until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is glossy and stiff, but not dry. With a rubber spatula, spoon the meringue onto the pie, forming peaks. Make sure the meringue touches the crust all around. Sprinkle with a pinch of granulated sugar. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until delicately browned. Cool and serve.