Sweet potato pie

Name: Sweet potato pie
Cook time: 205 min
Total time: 205 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Estadounidense
Ingredients: 30 g Wheat flour; 40 g Oats; 100 g Butter; 2 u Egg; 2 pinches Salt; 150 g Brown Sugar; 1.5 teaspoons Cinnamon; 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract; 120 ml Evaporated Milk; 50 g Pecan Nuts; 0.5 teaspoons Nutmeg; 2 sheets Shortcrust Pastry; 700 g Sweet Potatoes

Tarta de boniato

Medium

Contains allergens

Cereales con glutenLecheHuevos

Incomplete allergen information: some ingredients have not been reviewed yet. Always check the labels before cooking.

Author: Equipo Cocinoa
Preparation time: 3 hr
Servings: 8

Summary

A classic from the American South: roasted sweet potato mashed with butter, brown sugar, vanilla and spices into a smooth custard, baked in individual pies under a pecan and oat crumble.

Ingredients

8 servings

Add to Bring!

30 g Wheat flour (for the crumble, plus extra for the worktop)
40 g Oats (fine rolled oats)
100 g Butter (60 g softened for the filling and 40 g cold for the crumble)
2 u Egg
2 pinches Salt (one for the filling and one for the crumble)
150 g Brown Sugar (110 g for the filling and 40 g for the crumble)
1.5 teaspoons Cinnamon (ground, 1 teaspoon for the filling and half for the crumble)
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
120 ml Evaporated Milk
50 g Pecan Nuts (roughly chopped)
0.5 teaspoons Nutmeg (freshly grated)
2 sheets Shortcrust Pastry (ready-rolled round sheets, or homemade)
700 g Sweet Potatoes (about 2 medium, orange-fleshed)

Instructions

Heat the oven to 200 °C. Wash the sweet potatoes, prick them all over with a fork and roast them whole on a tray lined with baking paper until very soft and starting to ooze a dark syrup.
55 min
Peel them while still hot (the skin slips off) and mash the flesh with 60 g of the butter until smooth. If you beat it with an electric whisk, the stringy fibres wrap around the beaters and are easy to remove. Leave to cool slightly.
10 min
Meanwhile, unroll the pastry on a lightly floured worktop and cut out 8 circles of about 12 cm, re-rolling the trimmings if needed. Line 10 cm tartlet tins (or the holes of a large muffin tin) with them, pressing the edges in well. Prick the bases with a fork and chill for 15 minutes.
20 min
Lower the oven to 190 °C. Line each case with baking paper, fill with dried chickpeas and bake for 10 minutes; remove the beans and bake for 5 minutes more, until the pastry looks dry. Then lower the oven to 175 °C.
15 min
Make the crumble: mix the flour, oats, pecans, 40 g of the brown sugar, half a teaspoon of the cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Add 40 g of cold diced butter and rub it in with your fingers until it forms rough clumps. Keep it in the fridge.
5 min
For the filling, add the rest of the sugar and cinnamon, the nutmeg and a pinch of salt to the sweet potato purée. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the evaporated milk and vanilla, and whisk until the custard is smooth.
5 min
Divide the filling between the cases almost to the rim and bake for 15 minutes. Scatter the crumble over the top and bake for 15–20 minutes more, until the filling is set (it should barely wobble in the centre) and the topping is golden.
35 min
Leave to cool in the tins on a wire rack for at least 1 hour before unmoulding. Serve warm or cold, on their own or with whipped cream.
60 min

Notes

Sweet potato pie is one of the great desserts of African American cooking in the southern United States. African American cooks, many of them enslaved on plantations, adapted European custard pies to the sweet potato, which grew in abundance in their gardens, and the recipe was handed down through the generations until it became the dessert for Sunday dinners, family reunions and Thanksgiving, where it rivals pumpkin pie. Sweet potatoes reach the markets in autumn, just in time for All Saints' Day, when in Spain they are roasted alongside chestnuts: choose firm, medium-sized ones of a similar size so they roast evenly, with smooth skin and no soft spots, sprouts or cracks. For this pie, the purple-skinned, orange-fleshed kind works best, as it is sweeter and moister than the white-fleshed variety. Don't keep them raw in the fridge, because the cold hardens the core and spoils the flavour; a cool, dry, dark place is better. Roasting rather than boiling them concentrates the sugar and stops the filling turning watery. If you would rather make one large pie, use a 23 cm dish and bake it for about 50 minutes. Without the pecans (use more oats or pumpkin seeds instead) it is nut-free. It keeps for 3 days in the fridge; the crumble softens, but 5 minutes in the oven brings back the crunch.