Bill W. Brazil Blog: Sweet Potato Pie

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Sweet Potato Pie

Second only to the bird itself is, for many people, pie. Not just any pie will do on this day. There’s a finely tuned range of tastes to be orchestrated, and the finale isn’t to be compromised. One classic variety, most will agree, is sweet potato pie.

While some recipes take this the way of confectionary, that doesn’t have to be the case. Pie, done well, doesn’t have to taste like candy. But there should be a light sweetness and, in this case, a rich, creamy texture. This recipe delivers on all fronts.

Servings: 12

Time: 120 minutes

Ingredients:

Pie crust:

2 cups cassava flour
2 cups almond meal
1/2 cup cold organic grass-fed butter, cut into cubes
1/2 cup leaf lard
1 egg + 1 egg white
1 tsp sea salt
1 tablespoon coconut sugar
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Water (as needed)

Pie filling:

2 ½ cups sweet potato puree
1/3 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 tablespoon real vanilla extract or beans scraped from a vanilla pod
2/3 cups coconut nectar (could use raw buckwheat honey also)
2 ½ tablespoons ghee (could use coconut oil)
3 eggs

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

In a bowl, combine flour, almond meal, sugar and salt. In a separate small bowl: mix egg, egg white, and apple cider vinegar.

Add butter to the dry mixture. Pinch lard into the mixture and then use a pastry dough blender or your hands to work the fats into the dough. (You want to have some larger pieces the size of peas going on.)

Add the liquid mixture and stir to combine.

If dough is a little dry, add water a teaspoon at a time until it is moist and doesn’t crack.

Press dough into pie sheet a little at a time; making sure that it’s evenly thick.

Crimp the crust and fill with pie filling. Bake for 20 minutes.

Make the pie filling: Whisk the sweet potato puree, ginger, cinnamon, salt, vanilla, honey, coconut oil, and eggs until well incorporated.

Pour the filling into the pre-baked pie crust and tap on counter to smooth and level the filling. Bake for 65–75 minutes, or until the filling is set. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before storing in the refrigerator.