County Carnival Sweet Potato Pie
I think that sweet potatoes must be the cousin to pumpkin. They’re both orange. They swing both ways – savory and sweet, and they grace our tables in the fall. What’s not to love about them both?
That’s why I set out to use a few sweet potatoes in my Thanksgiving pies and came up with this beauty!
I know sweet potato pie is a thing down south. It’s not news to me and there are probably a million recipes out there, but, I’m a Pennsylvania girl. I’m not super familiar with sweet potato pie so I decided to start from scratch. Plus, I wanted to take advantage of the beautiful, colored sweet potatoes that were showing up at my farmers’ market and make something perdy.
Yellow, Orange and PURPLE! Look at those beauties!
Seriously, whenever I find purple food I want it all. Purple beans, purple peas, purple sweet potatoes. I just love purple foods – all that natural color and nutrition in a fun, party-like package. Like a carnival!
Now, this recipe is going to take a little longer than the normal recipe on here. In order to get that County Carnival coloring in the pie you’re going to have to mix up three small batches of pie filling. It’s all good though. If you use a blender or food processor, it goes pretty quickly. Also, start with the yellow potato, then the orange and then the purple and you won’t have to wash anything in between batches.
So, let’s get started.
First, you’re going to want to mix up the Pumpkin Spice Mix I posted a couple days ago. You’ll need that for each batch of filling. Yes, I know it’s not pumpkin pie but those spices go great with its cousin, sweet potato too.
Next, you’re going to bake one large sweet potato of each color. You’ll be using 10 oz. (by measurement, not weight) of each color.
If you’re gluten-free you can use my gluten-free crust recipe here. If not, feel free to use your favorite crust recipe made from wheat.
So, go ahead and mix up your crust and get it in the pie plate with a pretty pinched edge. I love pinched edges … they look like a simple ruffle and they’re very quick to do.
NOTE: If you want the kids to eat the crust, simply brush it with a little egg wash and sprinkle it with sugar before you put the filling in. This technique works to make adults eat it too. 😉
- This makes two (2) pies!
- FOR EACH COLOR OF FILLING:
- 10 oz. sweet potato, baked and cooled, no skin
- ⅓ c. whole eggs (mix up one cup very well and use ⅓ cup for each batch)
- ½ c. cane sugar
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. Pumpkin Spice Mix
- 8 oz. cream
- Preheat oven to 350˚F.
- Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend just until smooth.
- Set aside each color until they're all blended.
- Start with the purple filling and put into the pie shells. Use half in each.
- Then, by the spoonfuls, gently add the orange filling randomly placing each spoonful.
- Add the yellow, by gently pouring, by the spoonfuls in a random pattern in each pie.
- Half of each color goes in each pie.
- Take a butter knife and gently swirl all the colors together.
- Keep in mind that the purple will quickly overwhelm the other colors if you mix too much.
- Carefully place each pie in the oven and bake for 45 minutes or until the center of the pie is set and no longer jiggly.
- Cool completely before serving with real whipped cream.