The Holidays and Shut the Door Sweet Potato Pie Recipe - iNeed a Playdate The Holidays and Shut the Door Sweet Potato Pie Recipe iNeed a Playdate a Blog for Northeast Ohio Moms

12.06.2013

The Holidays and Shut the Door Sweet Potato Pie Recipe

Shut the Door Sweet Potato Pie Recipe with a graham cracker crust

I am not a fan of Thanksgiving.

Call me crazy, but I'm not.

It does not help that my kids are picky eaters and it's usually just the four of us eating. Getting over the feeling of having to have that huge Thanksgiving dinner was hard.

Once I let go of that memory of my childhood and embraced our traditions, Thanksgiving became more enjoyable. My husband almost always works on Thanksgiving. So the kids and I have started a tradition of volunteering. We may even go to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, one day. It's free on Thanksgiving Day to residents. My kids aren't fans of the zoo and Cleveland is pretty hit or miss when it comes to the weather.

Macy's rebroadcasts the parade, so in the afternoon we play BINGO (updated for 2016) as we watch the parade.

If we have family and friends over there will be food, but our meal will be shared late Thanksgiving evening as a family or on Friday.

The Holidays and Shut the Door Sweet Potato Pie Recipe

As I mentioned, my kids are picky. My son does not like most of the traditional foods served for Thanksgiving. This year his class read a story about traditions that had a recipe for sweet potato pie with it. For whatever reason, he got it in his head that he wanted to try it. He never wants to try new foods. I had to make this.

I found a recipe from Savory Sweet Life that looked amazing and seemed easy enough. I don't like to make pies, but I wanted to make it for him.

This pie was fantastic! Sweet and rich - so tasty! I really liked this recipe because it calls for less than a cup of brown sugar. I made a few changes to it. I didn't add some of the spices that the original recipe called for and I don't miss it at all. I just added more cinnamon. I also made a graham cracker crust instead of a traditional crust.

It is the only thing he will eat at Thanksgiving. Well, sometimes he'll try the turkey.

I finally get the popularity of this holiday pie!


Sweet Potato Pie #recipe with a graham cracker crust #baking #holiday #tradition

Shut the Door Sweet Potato Pie

Ingredients

  • 2 cups sweet potatoes, mashed – canned or fresh (four small sweet potatoes) 
  • 4 tablespoons butter at room temperature
  • ¾ cup packed brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ¾ cup evaporated milk
  • 3 tablespoons heavy creamer or half and half
  • pie crust (see below for graham cracker crust)

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  • Blend sweet potatoes, butter, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl until smooth.
  • Add eggs, evaporated milk, and creamer.
  • Pour pie mixture into graham cracker crust. It may look like it won't fit, but it will.
  • Bake for 15 minutes then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 30 minutes or until done. You will know it's done when it no longer jiggles in the middle. 

Graham Cracker Crust

Ingredients

  • 8 whole graham crackers, finely crushed (about 1-1/4 cups crumbs)
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375°F. Mix all ingredients until well blended.
Press firmly onto bottom and up the side of 9-inch pie plate.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely.

I've also made this recipe with pumpkin puree for a pumpkin pie. It's fantastic. Really, fantastic!


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