Sweet Potato Pie

I love this simplicity of this dessert. Ok, I love the simplicity and the taste. It’s like an anytime pie, but it’s seasonal so it’s unique. And not to toot my own horn, but I really think I’ve cracked the code on graham cracker crusts. The word candy comes to mind. (I really shouldn’t write blog posts when I’ve had so little sleep… However, my soon to be one year old has yet to sleep through the night. So I’m surprised I have any posts at all.) The original recipe has been adapted from one by Tyler Florence; which is to say, that in spite of exhaustion, the recipe is solid. 😉

As organic as possible:

Filling:

2 Sweet potatoes (orange)

1/2 cup Brown sugar

2 Eggs, lightly beaten.

3 tsp Flour

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Salt

Crust:

9 whole sheets Graham crackers

1/2 cup Cinnamon Crunch cereal (I like Cascadian Farms)

1 stick Butter

1/4 cup Brown sugar

1/4 tsp Salt

 

Preheat oven to 375°. Wash and dry the sweet potatoes, pierce all over with a fork and double wrap (2 times) with aluminum foil. Bake for 1 hour.

For the crust: Crush graham crackers and cereal in a sealed plastic bag with a rolling pin. (At least thats how I do it, you can turn them into crumbs any way you”d like. I like them to have some texture for this recipe.) By the way, I just have to tell you that the little bit of crunchy cinnamon-sugary cereal does a really great thing for the world of graham crackers. You are going to be happy. Melt butter in a medium sauce pan. Add crumbs, salt and sugar. Stir until all is coated. Reserve about 2 tablespoons of crumb mixture (optional for topping). Press evenly and up the sides of a 9″ pie plate.

When potatoes come out of the oven, turn heat down to 350° and bake the pie crust for about 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and set aside. Turn oven back up to 375°.

For the filling: Carefully (using a towel or something to hold the potatoes, because they will be very hot!) slice the skin of the sweet potato and scoop out the insides into a bowl. (Discard the skins.) If the insides are tender enough, mash with a fork. If necessary use a masher, until they are soft and pliable. Stir in 1/2 cup of brown sugar, eggs, flour, cinnamon and salt. (Tyler Florence adds a pinch of nutmeg too, but I don’t prefer it here because it ends up tasting more like a pumpkin pie to me. However, I will leave that up to your discretion.) Bake at 375° for 20 minutes, top with remaining crust mixture and bake 15 to 20 minutes more (until crust is browned).

Then enjoy your life because sweet potato pie is delicious.

 

 

27 comments

  1. Hi Sadie. Another sweet potato recipe! You are spoiling me! Just a question on a substitute ingredient. What can I use instead of the cinnamon crunch cereal and the Graham crackers please?

    1. Hi Roberta! That’s a good question. I would suggest maybe Zwieback crackers (approximately 1 1/2 cups worth of crumbs). And then I would add maybe a 1/4 tsp of cinnamon and 1/2 tsp granulated sugar.

      1. Thanks Sadie. I just googled Zwieback crackers and we have those in Malta. Can’t remember what they are called here but I know what they are. I love them dipped in hot chocolate, as strange as that might sound! Lol! I can be weird like that! Will take a note of that and keep it in mind whenever I need to use something instead of Grahams. Another Q…sorry!!! What can I use if I want to make s’mores?

      2. Good! I thought I remembered those being readily available in Europe. As far as S’mores go graham crackers are key, but I think shortbread crackers (cookies) would be delicious as a substitute! Some even come half covered in chocolate, you could just sandwich a roasted marshmallow between them;)

      3. Thanks for that. I really miss Graham crackers. My life changed when I had s’mores for the first time during my first Halloween in MI. I was hooked! Now the idea of using chocolate covered shortbread is genius. I know J will love that as those are his favourite! Thanks again x

      4. You actually tried frogs legs?! Woah! Would love to try them although I don’t know if I would be courageous enough when presented with some. Hats off to you!

  2. Yummy! I love sweet potato pie! Hats off to you for publishing posts with a baby who isn’t sleeping through the night 🙂 Hopefully turning 1 will change things!

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