Happy Thanksgiving! Sweet Potato vs. Pumpkin Pie! (we have a winner!)

Update: There was no contest between the pumpkin and the sweet potato pies that I made for Thanksgiving! The Sweet potato was the unanimous winner. Most of you predicted that in your comments. The truth of the matter is that it wasn’t a fair contest. I made a traditional pumpkin pie, like the one you find on the can and it just wasn’t all that thrilling next to a Butterscotch Sweet Potato Pie that is spiked with whiskey!

Happy Thanksgiving! I love this day. It is the ultimate holiday for anyone who loves to cook and eat. Today I am hosting the feast at my house. It will be a small party of my family, those who live in MN. We have all the old favorites from Turkey to pumpkin pie. Due to my new found love of sweet potatoes I also did a Butterscotch Sweet Potato Pie. There are only 8 of us and we have two pies. I hope it is enough! I thought it would be fun to see which pie becomes the family favorite. After our meal I’ll report back what we decide.

For Butterscotch Sweet Potato Pie inspired by a recipe for pumpkin pie in Bon Appetit:

1 pie crust recipe

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup whiskey

1 1/4 cup heavy cream

1 cup sweet potato puree

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

Preheat oven to 350°

Make and allow your pie crust to chill for at least an hour before using it. Roll it out thin enough to go an 1″ beyond the pie plate.

Fold that excess dough under itself on the edges.

Crimp in your favorite pattern.

Blind bake with foil and beans for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and beans and bake for another 15 minutes until slightly golden and dry looking. While the shell is baking you can start the filling.

In a small sauce pan heat 1/2 cup of the brown sugar, butter and salt over medium heat.

Whisk until the sugar has dissolved and has turned a nice deep caramel, about 5 minutes.

Carefully add in the whiskey, it will sputter and bubble, so add it slowly.

Then add the heavy cream. The caramel may seize up so return it to the stove and heat until it melts.

Strain the mixture to get any of the caramel that didn’t melt. Set aside to cool.

In a large measuring cup add together the sweet potato puree, eggs and spices, blend with an Immersion Blender. I find it easier to get the sweet potato perfectly smooth. Then add the butterscotch mixture.

Pour into the baked pie shell. Drop the oven temperature to 325° and bake for about 45-60 minutes. (The magazine said to bake it at 350°, which was too hot and the pie cracked. I dropped the temperature to 325° for my pumpkin pie recipe and it didn’t crack at all.)

Remove from oven and cool on a rack until room temperature.

Serve with whipped cream that is barely sweetened and spiked with more whiskey!

Happy Thanksgiving!!! Zoë

Tagged as: pie, pumpkin, sweet potato, Thanksgiving