← Nouns Cooking · American

Ingredients

• 700 g orange sweet potatoes
• 1 shortcrust pastry case (23 cm), unbaked
• 60 g Butter, melted
• 100 g Sugar
• 100 g Brown sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 180 ml Evaporated milk
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• ½ tsp Nutmeg
• ½ tsp Ground ginger
• ¼ tsp Salt
• whipped cream, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Peel the sweet potatoes, cut into chunks and boil in a pan of water for 20–25 min, until completely soft. Drain well and leave to steam dry for a few minutes.
2. Heat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan, 425°F). Mash the hot sweet potatoes with the melted butter until very smooth; for the silkiest pie, beat them with an electric mixer and fish out any stringy bits from the beaters. You need about 450 g of mash.
3. Beat in both sugars, then the eggs, evaporated milk, vanilla, spices and salt until smooth.
4. Pour into the pastry case and set it on a baking tray. Bake for 10 min, then lower the oven to 180°C (160°C fan, 350°F) and bake for 40–45 min more, until the edges are set and the centre still has a slight wobble.
5. Cool on a rack for at least 2 hours so the filling sets. Serve at room temperature or chilled, with whipped cream.

Tips

• Don’t overbake: the centre firms up as it cools, and overbaked custard cracks.
• Roasting the sweet potatoes whole for an hour instead of boiling them gives a deeper, caramel flavour.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

King Arthur Baking Jo Cooks