comfort food thursday: sweet potato pie.
it's maple sugar season here in vermont. and believe it or not, all this crummy, snowy weather has made maple syrup producers happier (atleast someone is excited about the blizzard expected tomorrow!) and apparently, temperatures hovering right around freezing may be bad for travel, but good for rising sap. also, according to farmplate.com, "the plentiful rainfall this past fall and record-breaking snowfall this winter are two predictors for a good syrup season." who knew!?
so, with all this syrup (1 in every 4 trees in the state is a maple!) it seems only necessary that we take advantage of our little state's big business. so, here is my first attempt of taking syrup off the breakfast plate and on to....well pretty much the anytime-of-day plate. plus, any recipe with gingersnaps makes me weak in the knees.
maple sweet potato pie from FarmPlate what you need:
- 2 cups (8 ounces) gingersnap cookie crumbs
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons demerara or raw cane sugar
- 2 generous cups cooked and mashed sweet potato
- 3 large eggs
- ¾ cup maple syrup, preferably dark amber
- 1 cup half-and-half
- 1 tablespoon bourbon or 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- A big pinch ground cloves
- 1 /8 teaspoon salt
what you do: Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Combine the cookie crumbs, melted butter and sugar. Press into a deep 9-inch pie pan. Bake for 5 minutes and remove from the oven. Increase the oven temperature to 425ºF. In a mixing bowl, beat the sweet potatoes and eggs until blended. Mix in the maple syrup, half-and-half, bourbon or vanilla, spices and salt. Pour into the pie shell. Bake for 10 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 350ºF and bake until set, about 25 minutes more. Serves 8.
