From the Church Cookbook: Sweet Potato Pie, and the Long Wait for Fall

The South’s fall dessert is not pumpkin.

We will not be unkind about pumpkin. It has its place. But in most Southern kitchens the pumpkin is a guest and the sweet potato is family. When a Southern cook wants to taste the fall, she reaches for a sweet potato.

There is a patience built into this pie, and I have always loved it. The potatoes have to come in first. All summer they are down in the dirt doing their slow quiet work, and you cannot rush them. You wait. Then in the fall they are dug, and the ground gives up these humble knotty roots, and you carry them in and turn them, with a little sugar and spice and a good crust, into one of the sweetest and most comforting things the Southern table has.

The whole pie is a small lesson in waiting for the good thing to be ready.

It is church food, deep down. This is the pie that shows up at the fall homecoming, at the revival supper, at every gathering where the folding tables get set up under the trees and the women bring what they are known for. Somebody is always known for her sweet potato pie. There is real standing in it.

The secret, if there is one, is not to overthink it. A sweet potato pie does not want to be fancy. It wants good potatoes cooked soft, a little warmth from the spice, and a hand that does not get carried away.

Here is the plain version to start from.

Sweet Potato Pie

Makes one 9-inch pie, about 8 slices.

Ingredients

For the filling

• 2 cups mashed cooked sweet potatoes (about 2 to 3 medium, roasted or boiled until very soft)
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar (part brown sugar is nice)
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the crust

• 1 single unbaked 9-inch pie crust (your own, or a good store-bought one; no shame at a church supper)

Instructions

1. Heat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cook the sweet potatoes first if you have not. Roasting them whole in their skins until they collapse gives the deepest flavor, but boiling them peeled and chunked works fine and is faster. Either way, you want them soft enough to mash smooth. Scoop the flesh out and mash it well, getting rid of any strings.
3. While the potatoes are still warm, beat in the softened butter until it melts into them. Then add the sugar, eggs, evaporated milk, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt. Beat it all together until smooth and well blended. Taste it, carefully, and adjust the spice to your liking. Some like it warmer, some plainer.
4. Pour the filling into the unbaked crust and smooth the top. Bake at 350 for about 50 to 60 minutes, until the filling is set and only barely jiggles in the very center when you nudge the pan. If the crust edge browns too fast, tent it with a little foil.
5. Let it cool completely before you cut it. It needs that time to finish setting up, and it is honestly better a little cool than hot.

Serve it plain, or with a spoon of softly whipped cream if you are feeling grand.

Carry it to the next gathering where the tables are under the trees. Let somebody’s grandmother tell you it is nearly as good as hers. That is a high compliment, and about the best a sweet potato pie can hope for.

The South, shared.