Dear Patti LaBelle, I'll see your pie and up the ante with this homemade California Sweetpotato Pie just in time for Thanksgiving! Between this and the brown butter bourbon pecan pie, your Thanksgiving desserts are sorted.
In case you haven't heard, Patti LaBelle's sweetpotato pie is sweeping the nation. It's sold out in stores and people are FREAKING OUT. But, I've got ya covered.
Here's the deal - going to the store this week is an adventure to say the least. THE LINES. I can't. But what I can fathom, is a quick trip to the market to stock up on California sweetpotatoes and a few key ingredients to make this recently famous sweetpotato pie! Patti makes her pie with CA sweetpotatoes so clearly we will too! Plus, I love them and eat them on the regular. Not to mention my husband has recently been doing this paleo thing so the amount of California sweetpotatoes we buy on a weekly basis is HUGE! But I digress... back to the pie. The crust is perfectly flaky - the filling is just sweet enough not to overpower everything else and it's moist! (least favorite word of all times)
So while it might not have Patti's face on the box, this pie actually comes straight from my kitchen and I'm certain Patti would be impressed!!
Sweetpotato Pie
Ingredients
For the Pie Crust
- 1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- 4 tablespoons of leaf lard cut into various small pieces pea to walnut size
- 4 tablespoons good quality butter, cut into various small pieces pea to walnut size
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 3-4 Tablespoons of ice water
- All-purpose flour for dusting
For the Sweetpotato Filling
- 2 large orange-fleshed California sweetpotatoes peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes (about 1 ¾ pounds)
- ½ cup white sugar
- 2 large eggs lightly whisked
- ¼ cup half-and-half or heavy cream
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar
- Kosher salt
Instructions
For the Pie Crust:
- Combine all dough ingredients except the ice water in a large bowl. With clean hands, blend the mixture together until it looks like coarse meal with some lumps in it.
- Sprinkle ice water over mixture and stir lightly with a fork. Squeeze a handful of dough together. If it doesn't keep together, add a bit more water.
- Form the dough into a disk about 5 inches across. Wrap the disk in plastic wrap and chill for about an hour. Once chilled, take out the disk and put it on a well floured board. Sprinkle some flour onto the top of the disk. Thump the disk with your rolling pin several times. Turn it over and thump the other side. Sprinkle more flour onto the top of the crust if needed to keep the pin from sticking and roll the crust out from the center in all directions.
- When it is an inch or so larger than your pie pan, fold the dough over the top of the pin and lay it in the pie pan carefully.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Blind bake the pie dough for 15 minutes. Cool completely in pan on rack, about 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.
For the Sweetpotato Filling
- Bring a large pot of lightly water to a boil over high heat. Add sweet potatoes and reduce heat to medium. Simmer until sweet potatoes are tender, 20-25 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water.
- Transfer sweet potatoes to food processor and mix to form a very smooth purée. Measure purée, then return 2 ½ cups to food processor (reserve any remaining purée for another use). Add granulated sugar, eggs, half-and-half, cinnamon, nutmeg, butter and brown sugar. Mix until smooth. Spread filling into prepared pie shell, smoothing the top. Add any excess crust decorations on top.
- Place pie pan on a baking sheet and place in oven. Bake until crust is lightly golden and filling is almost set with a slight jiggle in center, about 1 hour. Cool completely on a wire rack. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Photo and Food Styling by Adam Pearson / Recipe by What’s Gaby Cooking
Gabby,
Is there a difference between sweet potatoes or yams? Will the pie look & taste the same?
I hope not love pumpkin pie.
CAM
Yams aren't as sweet as sweet potatoes, and they are starchier and drier. Their texture and flavor are more similar to potatoes or yuca
Dumb question- for those leaf decorations on top, do you bake them separately first? Or put raw dough on top and bake it with the pie?
raw dough and bake!
We awarded this pie our Third Season Blue Ribbon! It will make such an amazing addition to your holiday table. Take a listen to Episode 149 for all the Blue Ribbon talk and why we love this pie so much. Thanks Gaby!
Do you need leaf lard for the recipe to work/ taste good?
you could use any lard that would be fine!
Hi
Don't have leaf lard in this neck of the woods.
I get it on amazon!!
GABY!! GABY! GABY! This is my grandmother's recipe down to a 'T'! Girllllll, I know this pie is the BOMB.com and Patti who? LOL!!! This is my most requested pie at Thanksgiving! Woot! Woot!
Okay, seriously loving the sweet potato in this pie instead of the classic pumpkin for Thanksgiving! YUM!!
Just too good. I could eat the whole thing!
yummy! sweet pot pie is soo much better than pumpkin! I love the little crust flowers!
I LOVE sweet potato pie much more than pumpkin pie. I have a lovely African American friend, who cooked us a soul food meal once. She made sweet potato pie and I've been hooked ever since.
I love this pie!! Sweet potatoes are the BEST!!
A holiday classic that is a must-make! Love the finishings on this pie - so cute and festive!
Such a cute pie!