By Genevieve Ko
- Total Time
- 4 hours, plus cooling
- Rating
- 4(259)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Eggnog’s swirl of cream, eggs, nutmeg and dark liquor imbues this sweet potato pie with the warmth of the holidays, and a sugar-sparkled crust makes it extra joyful. Spiked with two shots of rum, the roasted sweet potato custard filling becomes more complex in its earthy natural sweetness and almost like mousse in its lightness. You can dress up this pie without any expertise in crimping dough, you simply roll and cut dough scraps, then coat them with sugar and stick them to the edge of the pie crust.
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Ingredients
Yield:One 9-inch pie
- 1pound/453 grams sweet potatoes (2 medium), scrubbed
- 1disk All-Butter Pie Crust
- All-purpose flour, for rolling
- 2tablespoons sparkling or other coarse sugar
- 1cup/230 grams heavy cream
- ½cup/100 grams granulated sugar
- 3tablespoons rum or ¾ teaspoon rum extract
- 1teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- ½teaspoon fine sea or table salt
- 3large eggs, at room temperature, plus 1 egg, beaten, for the crust
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Preparation
Step
1
Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Pierce the sweet potatoes all over with a fork, then wrap each in foil.
Step
2
Roast on a baking sheet until very tender, 1 to 1½ hours. A fork should slide right through. Uncover and let cool for a bit. Lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees.
Step
3
When the sweet potatoes are almost done, roll the dough. If the dough has been refrigerated for more than an hour, let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes first. Roll the disk on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 13-inch round. It will be quite thin. Roll the dough onto the pin, then unroll it over a standard (not deep-dish) 9-inch pie plate, centering it. Gently tuck and press it into the bottom and sides of the plate without stretching the dough.
Step
4
With a sharp paring knife, trim the dough flush with the edge of the rim. (Save the scraps.) Place the pie pan on a baking sheet. Use a fork to poke holes all over the bottom of the dough without piercing all the way through, if possible. Line the dough with a sheet of crumpled parchment paper. (Crumpling helps it lie flat against the dough.) Fill the lined dough to the top with pie weights, such as dried beans.
Step
5
Bake until the edges are golden and the sides look dry, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove the weights with the parchment and return the empty pie shell to the oven. Bake until the bottom is dry and pale golden, about 5 minutes. Let cool until ready to fill. Lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees.
Step
6
Meanwhile, gather the dough scraps together and roll them into ⅛-inch-thick rectangles on a lightly floured sheet of parchment paper. Sprinkle with the sparkling sugar and gently run the rolling pin over the sugar so that it sticks to the top of the dough but still sits on top of it. Slide onto a baking sheet and freeze until firm, about 15 minutes. Cut into ¾-inch squares and return to the freezer.
Step
7
As soon as the sweet potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut a slit along the length of each and scoop the flesh out into a large bowl. (You should have about 2 packed cups.) Smash and stir into a purée with a whisk. Add the cream, granulated sugar, rum, vanilla, nutmeg and salt, and whisk until smooth. Add 3 eggs and whisk just until fully incorporated. Pour into the still-warm parbaked pie shell and smooth the top. Brush the rim of the pie crust with the remaining beaten egg.
Step
8
Take the dough squares out of the freezer, and arrange them along the rim, gently pressing them down. Bake until mostly set but still a tiny bit jiggly in the center, 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes. If you have leftover dough squares, bake them on a parchment-lined baking sheet until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes.
Step
9
Let the pie and squares cool completely on a rack. Arrange any squares on top of the pie and serve at room temperature or refrigerate for up to 3 days.
Ratings
4
out of 5
259
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Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Brian
For busy cooks, couldn't you just shortcut the ingredient list with actual eggnog? I have lightened my sweet potato pies by folding in a little bit of beaten egg white. Helps keep it from getting too dense. Light brown sugar adds to the richness too.
Caroline
You'll have to eat this pie with a shot of rum for it to be "spiked with two shots." 3 TBSP is just one shot.
CC
I was hoping it would have a glug of eggnog in it and somehow be wonderful as a result, rather than merely suggesting it via deconstructed ingredients.
Gale D.
Fantastic as written! My new "Pumpkin Pie". I was meticulous with my 3/4" squares, but didn't have as many to work with as the photo shows around the crust edge. Will try 1/2" next time.
abi
I subbed 1/2 c eggnog in place of half the cream and enjoyed it. I have never been successful with blind baking the crust, but these instructions got me closer to success than ever before.
kendall
Any suggestions for what to do with leftover filling? This yielded about a cup more than i needed
Some Healthful Substitutions
Substitute full fat coconut milk for the heavy cream and substitute monkfruit granules for the sugar.
Christine
My filling looks curdled. Fresh cream, could the rum have done that? Will it resolve in baking? Guess I'll find out!
JT
Good, but not clearly better than a traditional pumpkin pie. I do like the crust square decorations.
Mary
Love the make-from-scratch detail! We LOVE to avoid the commercial products. Keep it up!If folks want to use store-bought eggnog, it's their loss for sure, but an easy conversion to make as needed. Convenience can count, but knowing the nitty-gritty is priceless! (LOL)
vger21
This recipe raises sweet potato pie--a three-generation tradition in my family--to the next level, or maybe the one above that.
Gab
Tasty, but could have used a bit more flavor. More nutmeg, and/or more rum?
kayla
i think this needs a lot more sweet potato. i doubled the sweet potato to two lbs and kept the rest of the ingredients as listed for a single recipe, and i think it's still more eggnog than sweet potato like this.
Mikayla
This came out great! Well-liked around the table. Not quite enough extra to do all the beautiful squares. The all butter pie dough yielded a little less for me than the recipe suggested (about 15 g less per disk) and I used a 9.5 inch pie dish.
Dani
Note: Make sure you get the sweet potato purée is as smooth as possible *before* adding the heavy cream. If you stir too vigorously after adding the cream, you’ll end up with sweet potato flavored whipped cream.
Sheri
I.75 lb sw pot3T cream3T bourbon-or was it 2?1T vanilla3/8 c white & 3/8c brown sugarSeparate 3 eggs add yolks where says add eggs, whip whites & add once everything else is added to mixturePre bake crust partial
charisse
Hmm . . . There’s no butter in this potato pie! I will use the recipes proportions but I’m gonna add at least 4 TBS of softened butter to the potatoes. And add bit more warm spice.
Jennifer Wilson
The crust is ready to go into the oven and I'm beginning to compile the filling, but I suspect the finished product will be more yellow than your photo, as my sweet potato is not orange. Because this is an Eggnog Pie I don't expect the shade will put me off as long as the taste is incredible. But I'm wondering if note should be made of this in the recipe?
cat
Very tasty pie. The cook time was ~10 mins longer than written. I had to put some foil on the top because the crust was getting a bit too brown.
ChickpeainDC
Light and fluffy and the crust is always good but could do without the rum! Too boozy!
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