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Grandma's Old Fashioned Sweet Potato Pie

Grandma's Old Fashioned Sweet Potato Pie is easy, creamy, flavorful, and the simply the best! Topped with toasted marshmallow fluff- this pie is amazing!
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Cooling Time 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours 55 minutes
Servings 12
Calories 341kcal
Author Lisa

Ingredients

Flakey pie crust

  • 1 ⅔ cups flour – plus more for dusting
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 tbs sugar
  • 1 cup unsalted butter
  • ½ cup cold water

Sweet Potato Pie Filling

  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3 cups sweet potato puree* or drained canned yams or candied yams pureed/mashed, (40 oz can)
  • ¾ cup granulated sugar
  • ½ cup packed brown sugar
  • ¼ cup maple syrup
  • 2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice*
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon

Marshmallow Topping

  • 1 container marshmallow fluff 7 oz container

Instructions

Make Homemade Pie Crust

  • Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt.
    1 ⅔ cups flour – plus more for dusting, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 tbs sugar
    Flour mixture with butter
  • Cut butter into large cubes. Emphasis on large. I recommend cutting each stick into four chunks and then each chunk into four more chunks. Then place the butter chunks in the flour mixture and toss to coat with flour.
    1 cup unsalted butter
    Butter tossed in flour mixture
  • Once tossed, smash each chunk of butter between your fingertips. Smash each flat, then move on to the next chunk. You don’t need to cutting the butter in or anything else because you want the butter to stay in large chunks.
    Smashed butter
  • Once each chunk is smashed, using a spatula stir in the water. Stir the dough until it forms a sticky ball. You will need to use the side of the bowl to bring the dough together.
    ½ cup cold water
    Mixing pie dough
  • Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead a few more times to finish bringing the dough together. Place the dough back into the bowl and refrigerate for 10 minutes- you want to keep the dough cold and the butter from melting.
    Pie dough with butter chunks
  • Roll out the dough on the floured surface (adding more when needed), into a large rectangle (roughly12x10 inches). Make sure to flip the dough, add more flour if sticking and don’t hesitate to put it back in the fridge if the butter starts melting and sticking.
    Rolling out pie dough
  • Fold the 10-inch sides to the center of the rectangle then fold the other ends together like closing a book. Cut in half and then refrigerate both halves for 10 minutes.
    Pie dough cut in half
  • Bring out one piece of dough and roll into a circle large enough to fit your pie plate. Place in your pie plate, pressing into the corners, and then cut the extra dough that hangs over the edge using scissors.
    Pressing pie dough into corners
  • Cover with plastic wrap and allow the dough to relax for at least 2 hours in the fridge or overnight.
    Pie dough in pie dish
  • The second half of pie dough can either be frozen and used later or used immediately for a second pie. If freezing, place in a freezer bag and freeze for 2 months. To use just allow it to thaw in the refrigerator then follow the instructions from step 8. If using the second piece right away simply repeat what you did with the first half.

Prebake the crust- If using a store-bought crust, follow the package instructions for prebaking, if using my crust recipe follow the instructions below.

  • Preheat oven to 400°F and pierce pie crust bottom and sides with a fork.
    piercing pie crust with fork
  • Lay a piece of parchment paper on top of the pie crust then fill the pie crust with rice, sugar, or pie weights. Bake for 11 minutes, then remove the rice/sugar and parchment and continue bake for another 10 minutes. The crust will start to brown.
    adding rice over parchmentpaper in the pie crust to prebake
  • Set aside until ready to fill.
    prebaked piecrust

How to make the Grandma's Old Fashioned Sweet Potato Pie

  • While baking crust, whisk heavy cream, milk, eggs and yolks, and vanilla together until well combined.
    1 cup heavy cream, 1 cup whole milk, 3 large eggs, 2 large egg yolks, 1 teaspoon vanilla
    egg, milk and cream mixture
  • In a large sauce pan over medium heat combine sweet potato puree, granulated sugar, brown sugar maple syrup, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and salt to a simmer. This will take 15-20 minutes.
    3 cups sweet potato puree*, ¾ cup granulated sugar, ½ cup packed brown sugar, ¼ cup maple syrup, 2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice*, ½ teaspoon cinnamon
    Sweet Potato mixture in sauce pan
  • After mixture is well combined remove from heat and whisk in the heavy cream mixture. Once that is fully incorporated strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer. This step isn’t a must, but it really does make for a very smooth pie filling. I totally recommend it. Use a spatula or large spoon to press the solids through the strainer.
    milk mixture and pumpkin mixture combined
  • Place your pie pan (with cooked crust) on a baking sheet and then pour the filling in the pie crust.
    unbaked sweet potato pie
  • Adjust the oven rack to the lowest position. Place the baking sheet with the pie in the oven. * Bake for 10 minutes at 400° then reduce oven temperature to 300° and bake for 25-30 more minutes. You want the edges of the pie to be set and the center to be slightly jiggly.
    Sweet Potato Pie freshly baked -before cooled
  • Once done remove from oven and let cool at room temperature.
    Sweet potato pie cooled

Marshmallow Topping

  • Preheat broiler on high
  • Spread the marshmallow fluff over the top of the cooled pie.
    1 container marshmallow fluff
    Pie with marshmallow fluff spread on it- before toasting
  • Broil on high until the marshmallow is golden brown. This will only take a minute or two depending on how close your pie is to the broiler. Please just watch the pie the entire time. It can go from not toasted to burned very fast!
    Pie with toasted marshmallow fluff
  • Enjoy!
    Sweet Potato Pie Slice with toasted marshmallow topping

Video

Notes

Tips and Tricks
  • *Homemade Sweet Potato Puree: If you are making your own sweet potato puree you will want to plan ahead since it adds about an hour of time to the pie making process.
    • To make sweet potato puree preheat oven to 425°F. Wash and dry a medium sized sweet potato.
    • Using a fork poke holes in it then wrap in foil. Bake in oven for 45-60 minutes or until fully cooked and squishy.
    • Let the sweet potato cool and then peel it. Put it in a food processor and blend until smooth.
    • Alternatively, you could use canned sweet potato puree, candied yams, or canned yams for this recipe.
  • *Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice: If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice just make your own!
    • To make your own combine 4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1 teaspoon ground cloves, and ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg. Then use 2tsp of this mixture for the pie filling.
    • Save the remaining spice mix in a sealed jar for other recipes (like pumpkin pie, pumpkin cupcakes, and sweet potato pudding).

Nutrition

Calories: 341kcal | Carbohydrates: 50g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 113mg | Sodium: 111mg | Potassium: 430mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 31g | Vitamin A: 13998IU | Vitamin C: 14mg | Calcium: 93mg | Iron: 1mg