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Sweet Potato Pie
Serves 8
What you need:
For The Cold Truth Pie Dough (recipe from Sweet & Vicious: Baking with Attitude)
yields 1 double-crust pie
What you need:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon vanilla sugar (white granulated sugar that has been in a container with a vanilla bean for a couple of weeks) can substitute white granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne (optional)
12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed
1/4 cup cold lard (I prefer leaf lard) or vegetable shortening
4-8 tablespoons ice water
What to do:
1: Refrigerate a large mixing bowl for 15 minutes to get it cold. Whisk together the flour, vanilla sugar, salt, and cayenne in the cold mixing bowl.
2: Add the cold butter and lard to the flour mixture; do not mix.
3: Submerge your hands in a bowl of ice water or put them under very cold running water for as long as you can stand it.
4: Using your fingertips, quickly work the butter and lard into the flour mixture.
5: Mix until the flour mixture has slightly larger than pea-sized chunks of butter still visible.
6: Add 4 tablespoons of the ice water to the flour mixture and mix together with your hands. Continue to add ice water as needed, 1 tablespoon at a time, until a very loose ball is formed. The dough will still be crumbly, but should hold together when pressed together in the palms of your hands.
7: Turn the dough out onto a cold work surface and lightly pack it together. Never . . . ever . . . ever knead the dough.
8: Divide the dough into two equal pieces (one slightly larger than the other) and form each into a disc. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours. Make sure to remove the dough from the refrigerator 10 minutes before using or it will be a pain to roll out.
9: Following the directions in the individual recipe, lightly flour your work surface and roll out the dough. You’ll see beautiful chunks of butter all through the dough.
This dough can be frozen for up to 3 months. Wrap each disc tightly in two layers of plastic wrap.
Sweet Potato Pie Filling
What you need:
2 cups mashed, cooked sweet potatoes, cooled (approximately 2 large sweet potatoes)
½ cup butter, room temperature
¼ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
½ cup evaporated milk
3 eggs, room temperature
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of fresh ground nutmeg
pinch of ground ginger
pinch of ground allspice
pinch of Kosher salt
½ teaspoon vanilla paste (can substitute 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
1 9-inch prepared pie crust, unbaked
whipped cream for serving
What to do:
1. Preheat oven to 350º F.
2. Prepare batter: In a large mixing bowl, add cooled mashed sweet potatoes and butter. Mix with a hand mixer until smooth. Add in sugars and milk and beat until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition until incorporated. Add in remaining ingredients and and beat until smooth.
3. Assemble and bake: Pour filling mixture into the prepared pie crust (you will probably have a little left over) and bake until beginning to brown and is still slightly jiggly (approximately 50 to 60 minutes). Allow to cool for a minimum of 3 hours (pie will finish setting) before serving.
To serve: Finish with a dollop of freshly whipped cream (I like to add a little bourbon to the whipped cream or just a pinch or two of cinnamon to fancy it up).
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