Servings
Font
Back
Grandma's Old Fashioned Sweet Potato Pie
4.7 from 139 votes

Grandma's Old Fashioned Sweet Potato Pie

Grandma's Old Fashioned Sweet Potato Pie features a flaky butter and leaf lard crust filled with a spiced sweet potato mixture. The filling is made from roasted sweet potatoes mashed with butter, brown sugar, eggs, and warm spices like cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. The use of evaporated milk gives the pie a creamy texture. Roasting the sweet potatoes intensifies the flavor and reduces moisture, resulting in a firmer filling. The pie is traditionally served with whipped cream, which balances the spices and sweetness.

Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
2 hrs
Cool Time
2 hrs
Total Time
4 hrs 10 mins
Servings: 10 servings
Calories: 491 kcal
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: African-American Fusion

Ingredients

Flaky Butter and Leaf Lard Pie Crust
  • 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour + more for work surface
  • 1 ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 8 tablespoon butter cold and cubed, unsalted
  • ½ cup leaf-lard chilled, or vegetable shortening
  • ½ cup water ice water
Sweet Potato Pie Filling
  • 6 sweet potato 3.5 cups mashed, medium
  • 1 butter softened, unsalted, stick
  • 1 cup light brown sugar packed
  • 2 egg room temperature, large
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp cloves ground
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 3/4 cup evaporated milk 6 oz
  • Whipped Cream for serving

Instructions

To Make Pie Crust
    Cup of Yum
  1. In a large bowl or food processor, whisk together kosher salt and all-purpose flour. Add the eight tablespoons of butter and the leaf-lard or shortening.
  2. With a pastry cutter or the food processor on 'pulse', cut the fats and flour together until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Most of the fat should be the size of sweet peas or beans, and larger sized bits of fat are encouraged.
  3. Using a tablespoon measuring spoon, pour one tablespoon of ice water at a time in and stir with a large rubber spatula or spoon. Stir after each addition of water. Stop adding water when the dough begins to clump together.
  4. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface. It should be slightly, slightly tacky and come together easily. Form the dough into a ball, then divide it into two halves. Flatten each half into 1 inch thick discs. Wrap each dough disc tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least an hour (but they can stay in the fridge for up to 3 days).
To Make Sweet Potato Pie Filling
  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. (180 degrees C)
  2. Bake the sweet potatoes for 1 hour in the oven on a baking sheet. When done, let cool slightly. Peel the skin off of the potatoes and rice them, with a potato ricer, into a large bowl. Set aside.
  3. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until creamy and homogenous. Add the eggs, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and salt to the creamed butter and sugar. Stir in evaporated milk, then pour the mixture into the riced sweet potatoes in the large bowl. Whisk together or stir with rubber baking spatula until well incorporated and creamy.
To Assemble Pie
  1. Remove one pie crust disk from the fridge, unwrap it, and place it on a work surface. Roll out the disk from the center outward, lifting crust slightly and rotating it 90 degrees after every few rolls. Lift and dust underside with flour every so often to prevent the pie crust from sticking. Roll dough out to be about 11 to 12 inches, and about ⅛" thick.
  2. Repeat with the other pie crust, then use pie crust cutters to create leaf shapes.
  3. With your rolling pin, roll the flattened pie crust off the work surface to loosely wrap around the pin and carefully it roll out into the pie dish. Trim the edges to ½ inch beyond the lip of your pie dish, then turn the edge under to create the rim. Press the rim against the pan to form an even edge. Use scraps to fill in any tears, thin spots, or holes in the pie crust.
  4. Refrigerate the pie crust for 15 minutes to chill the fats again.
  5. Pour the pie filling into your unbaked pie crust at 350 degrees F. Arrange the pie crust cut outs over the pie filling. Bake the sweet potato pie on the bottom rack of your oven for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the center of pie is still slightly jiggly and the edges are set. Cool for 2 hours, then refrigerate until ready to serve.
  6. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

Notes

  • Keep the pie crust ingredients cold and chill the dough before baking to ensure a flaky texture.
  • Roast sweet potatoes rather than boiling to concentrate sweetness and reduce moisture for a firmer filling.
  • Store leftover pie in the refrigerator for up to three days or freeze tightly wrapped up to three months.
  • Reheat frozen pie at 200°F for about 15 minutes until warmed through.
  • Use a sharp knife rinsed in hot water between cuts for clean slices.

Nutrition Information

Serving 1g Calories 491kcal (25%) Carbohydrates 64g (21%) Protein 7g (14%) Fat 23g (35%) Saturated Fat 14g (70%) Polyunsaturated Fat 8g (47%) Cholesterol 93mg (31%) Sodium 274mg (11%) Fiber 3g (12%) Sugar 30g (60%)

Nutrition Facts

Serving: 10 servings

Amount Per Serving

Calories 491

% Daily Value*

Serving 1g
Calories 491kcal 25%
Carbohydrates 64g 21%
Protein 7g 14%
Fat 23g 35%
Saturated Fat 14g 70%
Polyunsaturated Fat 8g 47%
Cholesterol 93mg 31%
Sodium 274mg 11%
Fiber 3g 12%
Sugar 30g 60%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.