Description
Home cooks love this Southern sweet potato pie with brown sugar meringue, a creamy dessert blending rich spices and silky texture. Warm comfort and seasonal charm invite you to savor each delightful slice with friends and family.
Ingredients
Scale
- 6 tbsps (90 mL) brown sugar
- 3 egg whites
- ½ tsp (2.5 mL) vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp (1.25 mL) cream of tartar, or lemon juice
- 1 pinch kosher salt
Instructions
- Dough Preparation: Combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Cut chilled butter into the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs, creating a textured base for the pie crust.
- Dough Resting: Introduce ice-cold water to the flour mixture, kneading gently until a unified dough emerges. Encase in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour to enhance texture and flavor development.
- Sweet Potato Cooking: Cleanse sweet potatoes, halve lengthwise, and submerge in boiling water. Simmer until tender, then drain and allow to cool slightly before peeling.
- Filling Creation: Thoroughly mash sweet potatoes with butter, brown and white sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, and milk until achieving a silky, uniform consistency. Integrate vanilla extract, flour, and eggs, whisking until perfectly blended.
- Crust Preparation: Warm the oven to 425°F. Roll out chilled dough on a floured surface, carefully transferring to a 9-inch pie dish. Trim edges, crimp decoratively, and freeze for 20 minutes to set the structure.
- Blind Baking: Line crust with parchment, fill with ceramic weights, and bake for 17-20 minutes. Remove weights and allow to cool, reducing oven temperature to 350°F.
- Pie Assembly and Baking: Pour sweet potato filling into the pre-baked shell. Bake for 35-40 minutes until the center maintains a slight wobble, indicating perfect doneness.
- Optional Meringue Topping: Whip egg whites with cream of tartar and sugar until forming glossy, stiff peaks. Artfully pipe or spread over the cooled pie.
- Final Browning: Use a kitchen torch to delicately caramelize the meringue or briefly broil, watching attentively to prevent burning and achieve a golden finish.
Notes
- Chill Dough Strategically: Refrigerating pie dough allows gluten to relax, creating a more tender, flaky crust that prevents shrinkage during baking.
- Master Sweet Potato Selection: Choose firm, vibrant orange sweet potatoes with smooth skin to ensure maximum flavor and creamy texture in your pie filling.
- Prevent Soggy Crust Technique: Blind baking creates a protective barrier, stopping moisture from sweet potato filling from making the bottom crust soft and mushy.
- Meringue Mastery Tip: Ensure egg whites are room temperature and use clean, grease-free utensils to achieve perfect, stable meringue peaks that won’t deflate.
- Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Desserts, Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 9
- Calories: 65
- Sugar: 6 g
- Sodium: 50 mg
- Fat: 0.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 0 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0.1 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 15 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg