What’s For Dinner?

photo

Nellie Mae Cosby's Sweet Potato Pie


Rate this recipe: (average rating = 2.00 with 27 votes)

Rate It!

Rate this recipe by clicking ONE star
(First star is lowest, fourth star is highest)
Cuisine: Dessert Southern

Southern Recipe Restoration Project

The contributor: Eris Cosby Lancaster, who lives with her husband, Terrell, in Powder Springs. "My grandmother Nellie Mae Cosby and my granddaddy had a 100-acre farm below Douglasville, about 25 miles from where we lived. If ever there were a saint on earth, she was it. She was the ideal picture of a perfect grandmother, and I never heard anyone say an unkind word about her.

"We never left her house without something to take home to eat. It may be something from her garden; she always had a garden. They also had apple trees and pear trees and grew their own sweet potatoes. Everyone especially loved her sweet potato pie."

Hands on time: 30 minutes  Total time: 2 hours  Serves: 8

Ingredients:

    Nellie Mae Cosby's Sweet Potato Pie


    2 large sweet potatoes

    1 egg, lightly beaten

    1 cup granulated sugar

    2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

    1/2 cup milk

    1 teaspoon vanilla extract

    Pinch of fine salt

    1 prepared pie crust

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the sweet potatoes on a rimming baking sheet. Bake until potatoes are tender to the point of a knife, 45 to 60 minutes.

Remove from the oven. Return the baking sheet to the oven and leave the oven on 350 degrees.

When cool enough to handle, peel the sweet potatoes and discard the skin. Place the peeled potatoes in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. With the mixer on medium-low speed, whip until smooth. Add the egg, sugar and butter and continue whipping on medium-low until well-combined. Add milk, vanilla extract and a pinch of salt and continue whipping on medium until smooth and all ingredients are incorporated.

Pour the sweet potato mixture into the prepared pie crust.

Transfer to the preheated oven and place directly on the baking sheet or pie pan. (This will help the bottom cook, too.)

Bake until set, about 60 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool slightly before serving. Serve warm or room temperature.

Notes:

Essentially, this pie is pure sweet potato. With just a touch of vanilla, the earthy flavor of the potatoes shines through. Some recipes call for nutmeg, cinnamon or allspice, but Virginia Willis, Saving Southern Food chefs panel member and cookbook author, said she really appreciates the simplicity. She also said, "I think baking it on a hot baking sheet is a great technique for ensuring a well-cooked bottom crust, " as contributor Eris Cosby Lancaster suggests.

Nutrition:

Per serving: 275 calories (percent of calories from fat, 32), 3 grams protein, 44 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 10 grams fat (4 grams saturated), 35 milligrams cholesterol, 184 milligrams sodium.

More recipes like this:

More recipes of the same cuisine:Dessert Southern
Recipes in the same category:Saving Southern Food
Get Daily E-mail