Sweet and short

Happy upcoming holidays, everyone! Christmas is right around the corner and only 50% of gifts purchased. I've got a ways to go. Sadly, while I've been trying to get into the spirit, the tree isn't even up yet and I haven't done any major baking, as good cheer has been lacking of late. I mean, where's the Frank Sinatra singing Christmas tunes in the background? Isn't this supposed to be the season of baking-to-excess season? Why is my oven off? What's wrong with me? Why am I missing this? So many questions!

On towards better news. I've have baked 2 new things in the past month and I'm about to document 1 of them here. Baked Item #2 is a cookie of sorts, which I'm very excited about, but that will have to wait until next time (rubs hands gleefully). Insert second gleeful thought here - I've just bought some fresh cranberries and am thinking of making a cranberry pie with meringue on top (Baked Item #3?). How tasty does that sound?

Until then, here's Baked Item #1, another type of holiday pie to tide you over until the cranberry one rears its head. Say hello to sweet potato pie. Some might say that this is more of a Thanksgiving pie than a Christmas pie, but let's be honest here, cranberries and sweet potatoes belong to both winter holidays. That Ocean Spray commercial got something right.

This is adapted from Joy's (the Baker) Dad's sweet potato pie recipe. I'll be honest, I was afraid of this pie, at first. It took me until full-adult life to even enjoy putting pumpkin pie in my mouth (I found it to be an acquired taste) and thus assumed that sweet potato pie fell along the same lines. I'd also never eaten sweet potato pie before this point, so that didn't help with the trepidation at all. In lieu of these two considerations, it seemed wise to not just wing it, enter Joy the Baker.

This recipe definitely an adaptation and I certainly don't think it's the same as her Dad's pie. I altered the recipe by omitting a good amount of sugar and increasing the spice amounts. No joke, this pie is delicious and dare I say, even happier-tasting than pumpkin pie.

Now, I do suspect this version ended up a lot less sweet than the original intention. I don't really have a sweet tooth and thought that my pie was the perfect level of sweetness...but I took it to a Thanksgiving dinner where I was able to taste-test it against a store-bought potato pie....and whoa. Let's just say the store-bought one had a LOT more sugar in it than this version. To each their own.

I still think this one is sweet enough though. Here's to keeping it short and sweet. Enjoy!

Sweet Potato (aka Yam) Pie

adapted from Joy the Baker

for the crust

4 oz. cold salted butter, cut into chunks.

1 1/2 C AP flour

2 teaspoons granulated sugar

1/3 C milk

for the filling

2 C mashed cooked yams (5-6 small yams)

2 oz. unsalted butter

3/4 C packed brown sugar

1 teaspoons coriander

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

12 oz. evaporated milk

3 large eggs. room temperature

1 teaspoon almond extract

On a clean surface, mound together your flour, salt, and granulated sugar. Take the butter and pat into the flour until the chunks are covered. Using a pie scraper and a cold hand, press the butter into the flour until there are thin butter flakes through the dough. Slowly drizzle in the milk while folding with the pie scraper until the dough comes together. Wrap in plastic wrap and let chill in the refrigerator at least 30 minutes (ideally overnight). Once chilled remove, roll out, and place the flattened dough into a pie tin (form your pie crust). Keep the crust in refrigerator until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Boil the sweet potatoes in water until soft and a toothpick can be inserted easily through the flesh. Run under cold water until cool enough to hold, then slip off the skins and mash the sweet potatoes. You should have ~2 cups of mashed sweet potatoes.

In a pot on low heat, simmer together the mashed yams, 2 oz unsalted butter, packed brown sugar, all the spices, and 6 oz. of evaporated milk. Using an immersion hand blender, blend the simmering mixture together until smooth and all stringiness from the yams is gone. Remove and let cool.

Whisk together the remaining 6 oz of evaporated milk, eggs, and almond extract (feel free to use vanilla extract). Once the mashed yam mixture is cool, quickly drizzle this egg mixture into the warm yams while whisking continuously, so as to avoid cooking the eggs. Then remove the pie crust from the refrigerator and pour the filling into the cold crust. Sprinkle the pie with granulated sugar (optional).

Bake the pie for 10 minutes at 375 degrees, then lower the heat until 325 degrees and bake for an hour or so. You'll know when it's done when the pie has puffed up in the middle but still jiggles. Remove from heat and let cool (it will deflate).