Easy Sweet Potato Pie
A gingersnap crust paired with a filling that includes condensed milk and pecans. It can be made in advance. We make puree from fresh sweet potatoes, but you can use canned.
Servings 8 servings
Ingredients
For the gingersnap crust:
- 2 cups ground gingersnaps or use a graham cracker crust
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted
For the filling:
- 1 ½ cups homemade sweet potato puree from about 13 ounce raw sweet potatoes, or use canned sweet potato puree.
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- large pinch of fresh nutmeg about 5-6 gratings
- pinch of ground allspice
- ¼ cup brown sugar light or dark
- 3 eggs at room temperature
- 1 cup sweetened condensed milk less than a can
- 3 tablespoons butter melted
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup pecans coarsely chopped (optional)
Instructions
For the gingersnap crumb crust:
- Preheat oven to 325ºF (160ºC).
- Stir 2 cups ground gingersnaps and ½ cup unsalted butter, melted in a medium bowl until it looks like wet sand.
- Dump it onto a glass 9-inch (24cm) pie dish. With the back of a spoon, a measuring cup or your hands, evenly pat the crumbs onto the bottom and sides of the pan. Try to make it as even as possible and make sure it’s pressed.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Reserve on a wire rack while you make the filling.
- Leave the oven on.
For the filling:
- Put 1 ½ cups homemade sweet potato puree, ¼ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, pinch of ground allspice, large pinch of fresh nutmeg (or use 1 teaspoon of pumpkin spice mix instead of the spices above) and ¼ cup brown sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until it’s well mixed. Don’t worry if the potatoes aren’t very smooth at this point. Make sure the mixture is not stuck to the bottom or sides of the bowl. Scrape it once or twice with a spatula.You can also mix it with an electric mixer at low speed or by hand if you have smooth sweet potato puree.
- Add 3 eggs, 1 cup sweetened condensed milk, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract and mix until smooth.
- Add 3 tablespoons butter and pulse until it’s an even batter. It will be quite liquid.
- Pour the filling carefully into the baked crust, sprinkle ½ cup pecans, chopped, on top, and bake for about 30 minutes, until the center is slightly jiggly and the edges are set.
- Let cool on a cooling rack to room temperature and refrigerate for about 2 hours to allow it to set and the flavors to meld before serving.
Notes
To make sweet potato puree beforehand: Wash and dry whole sweet potatoes. Pierce them with a fork 5 or 6 times each. Bake, unpeeled, at 350°F (180°C) for about 1 hour, or until a fork easily pierces the skin and the pulp; very large ones might need more time. Or cook in the microwave oven for 5 to 7 minutes. Let cool until you can handle them, but cut in half while still hot, scoop out the pulp and let it cool down until it's at room temperature. Process it until smooth and drain to remove excess water (if necessary). Keep it refrigerated in an airtight container if not using immediately. It lasts for 3 days. You can use yams instead of sweet potatoes; they're very similar.
Baking time: consider that all ovens and pans are different, even if they look similar. The baking time in my recipes is as accurate as possible, but it might take you more or less time. You can use an oven thermometer to check that your oven is at the right temperature. I recommend tracking how your oven works and what tiny details you might need to adjust.
Serving: whipped cream would be a great option (see my tip to add cream cheese to the cold cream if it holds better), or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Some people even insist on a tub of Cool Whip for their holiday pie if we are going true vintage.
