Brown Butter Sweet Potato Pie

When my friend, India, moved halfway across the country, I mourned the loss of our weekly happy hours. She assured me we would keep in touch and would cook together via Facetime.

India chose a brown butter sweet potato pie for one of these Facetimes and sweet potato pie has never been the same. The brown butter adds a complexity to the pie that kicks it up a notch. It’s rich, it’s decadent and I hope it will find its way to your Thanksgiving table.

If I can’t convince you sweet potato is the way to go for Thanksgiving pie, you can use pumpkin or butternut squash puree .

You can use any pie crust you like. I’m not going to compete with your grandma’s. This pie crust is flaky, tender, flavorful, and non-finnicky (as long as you follow the directions exactly). The crust recipe is from Milk Street.

PS India is also the reason this blog exists. It was her idea and she’s the one who made me follow through with it.

Crust Ingredients
6 T water
4 t cornstarch
2- 1/4 c all-purpose flour
4 t sugar
1/2 t salt
20 T butter cut into 1/2 inch pieces (make sure it’s cold)
4 T sour cream

Crust Directions
In a small bowl, whisk together water and cornstarch. Microwave in 15 second increment and stir each time. After about 45 seconds, the mixture should be set. Chill in the freezer for 10 minutes.

Once the cornstarch is chilled, combine flour, sugar and salt in a food process. Process about 10 seconds. Add half of the butter and pulse until just incorporated. Add the cornstarch mixture and pulse until just combined. Add the remaining butter and sour cream and process until the dough comes together. Pat the dough into a 6” disk, cover with Saran wrap and refrigerate 1.5 hours and up to 48 hours.

After the dough chills (if longer than 2 hours allow the dough to warm a little), place it on a flour dusted smooth surface. Sprinkle flour on top of the dough disk and roll it out thin. I like to start in the middle of the patty and roll outward.

Fold the dough in half and half again. Place it in the pie pan and unfold the dough. Press the dough around the edges. Do not stretch the dough — nothing good will come of it.

Take kitchen shears and cut the dough about 1” larger than the pie dish. Space your index and middle fingers of your non-dominate hand about the width of one finger. Take the fingers and press them against the exterior of the excess dough, using the pointer finger of your dominate hand, press the excess dough from the interior of the pan between your two fingers of your other hand.

Refrigerate until ready to use. If your crust warmed up too much, you may need to adjust your crimps once your pull it out of the refrigerator.

Use the excess dough for something else. You can wrap pieces of of ham and cheddar in the dough. Bake them and dip them in a mustard sauce for a quick meal.

Filling Ingredients
2 lb sweet potatoes
1/2 c unsalted butter
1/3 - 1/2 c cane syrup
1/2 c evaporated milk
1 t vanilla
1/4 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
1/8t ginger
Tiny pinch of cloves
pinch of salt
2 T orange juice
1 1/2 T all purpose flour
2 eggs room temperature

Filling Directions
Preheat oven to 425. Poke holes in sweet potato and put them on a foil or parchment lined baking sheet. Bake until the the potatoes are really soft and sugar (natural potato sugar) is oozing out. The time varies greatly depending on the size of the potatoes. Start checking them after you begin to smell them. Remove them from the oven.

Line the pie crust with foil or parchment and add uncooked beans to at least 3/4 full. If not, your crust will shrink — been there and don’t recommend it. Bake the shell at 375. Tent the edges in foil so they don’t get too dark. Remove the foil and weights after 30 minutes. Cook until the crust is light brown (about 5-8 minutes).

Brown the butter in a heavy bottom frying pan using medium low heat. Swirl the butter as it cooks. The butter will start smelling nutty and will separate. Dark solids will be at the bottom and clear liquid at the surface. You want the solids to be chestnut color. The butter will burn if the heat is too hot or is cooked too long. If that happens, start again. Remove the browned butter from heat when finished.

Scoop the potato flesh into a large mixing bowl. Use a stand or hand mixer to whip. If the potatoes aren’t quite soft enough you can add a splash of milk. After they’re creamy, drizzle in browned butter and milk while beating. Taste — you can stop here and have a side dish, but we want pie now. Put the mixer on slow and drizzle in 1/3 c of Cane syrup, spices and two eggs. Mix until incorporated.

Use a rubber spatula and fill the baked pie crust with the sweet potato mixture. Smooth out the top with a spatula, tent the edges with foil and bake. At 350 for 45-50 minutes. The edges should be set and the middle should jiggle, and read 175 degrees on an instant read thermometer. Allow the pie to cool and set. Eat at room temperature.

Notes
You can adjust the spice to your taste or omit them. I like a little spice but still can taste the sweet potato.

You can use brown sugar in place of cane syrup.