Sweet potato pie

I made a sweet potato pie! And you should make it too!

When I first saw this I was totally confused. I was on Pinterest, and I saw a recipe for sweet potato pie – with marshmallows on the top. What? Marshmallows? Who on earth would think it wise to put marshmallows on a savoury pie? Turns out, no one. It’s a sweet pie. And it tastes delicious. It’s also American - If there’s one thing they do well, it’s the food.

This is heaven in a pie. Sorry for the messy look. I like to think 'rustic'.

After looking around the interweb, I came across a recipe that looked pretty easy to follow. My only issue was the timing - it seemed to take forever. I poked around a little bit more until I gave in and asked my mum how I could cook sweet potatoes without it taking an hour. She said she does regular potatoes in the microwave, and really how much different could they be?

So, this is the recipe I followed. I adapted the original very slightly. I also re-wrote the method. That was mainly for me. 

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not one for faff; if it can be done quicker or easier, I’ll do it. Maybe I’m just lazy….

Sweet shortcrust pastry

Now obviously, you could just buy some. It’s in the freezer aisle. However this is one thing that I don’t like to cheat with, ‘cause it’s already quick and easy. Plus we didn’t have any pre-rolled at home.

Ingredients:

o 250g plain flour

o 125g cold butter, cubed

o 2 egg yolks

o 2 tbsp. caster sugar

o Pinch of salt

o 1-2 tbsp. milk, if needed

This pastry recipe is from Lorraine Pascale. I have one of her books, and it’s the best.

Directions:

1)Put flour and butter in a food processor and blitz until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

2)Add the egg yolks, sugar, and salt. Stir with a knife (or whizz it again, like I did).

3)Squash the mixture - it should stick together. If it does, roll it into a ball shape, if it’s too dry add milk slowly, tablespoon at a time. Only add the milk if you really need to, because even though it’s slightly more difficult to work with, it makes a much nicer pastry without. Wrap the ball in Clingfilm.

4)Put it in the fridge for 30 minutes. –At this point I started making my filling. When I was almost finished I took the pastry out to rest.

5)            Remove it from the fridge and leave to rest for a few minutes before using.

Clean your food processor so you can use it for the filling. This whole thing can be done with bowls and spoons if you don't have one, so don't let that put you off.

 

Pie Filling

Ingredients:

o500g sweet potato

o125g softened butter

o150g caster sugar

o125ml milk

o2 eggs

o½ tsp. ground nutmeg

o½ tsp. ground cinnamon

o1tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

1)Peel your potatoes.

2)Put them on a plate or bowl with cling film over the top (pierce the cling film).

3)Heat up in the microwave for 5 minutes. Turn them over so the top is now the bottom and cook for another 5 minutes. If it needs more, cook for 2 minute intervals until the potato is soft enough to mush in a food processor.

4)Pre-heat the oven to 180C.

5)Roll out the pastry and line a 9 inch pie tin (I used a flan tin. I lined it with greaseproof paper, then greased the paper with a little bit of butter). Carefully put the pastry into the tin and press it against the sides. Lightly pierce the base with a fork, not all the way through, or you’ll have leaky pie.

6)Put the potatoes into your food processor.  Blend them until it looks like super-smooth mashed potatoes. Add the butter and mix well. Stir in sugar, milk, eggs, vanilla, and spices. Beat until the mixture is smooth. I literally did all of this in the processor, and it worked great.

7)Pour the filling into pastry base.

8)Bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out clean.

9)Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over the top.

I really hope that if you make the pie, you’ll love it as much as I did!

I promise that not all of my photos will be bad quality, but autumn means darker evenings, so there wasn't enough natural light by the time the pie was done.

Now, it’s late and I’m sleepy. Night night!

Love, Shay. xo