Don’t Mess With The Sweet Potato Pie: A Museum Wrestles With ‘Authentic’ Black Menu | KSMU Radio

Oh, yes, sweet potato pie. When I was going through my mother’s recipe box and copying things many years ago, I came across the pie recipes from her mom and my father’s mom — and was quite surprised to find that they were identical, except my dad’s mom used evaporated milk and my mom’s mom used regular milk. (Unsurprisingly, my mom had opinions on this!) My dad’s mom’s recipe also suggested adding coconut, and one of the recipes — I don’t recall which — noted doing it without crust as a casserole.

I’ll put the recipe here in case you or any of your readers happen to know if it traces to a mid-century magazine recipe or something. Both of my grandmas are from middle North Carolina, one from just north of Raleigh, and one from about 50 miles west. Here it is, exactly as in my recipe book:

2 medium sweet potatos, baked and mashed (2 cups)
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
¼ cup melted butter
¾ cup milk (Granny Moses uses Pet milk, which Mama dislikes)
1 teas. vanilla
½ teas. cinnamon
1 T flour
(Optional from Granny Moses – add 1 pkg frozen coconut)

Combine everything. For casserole, bake at 400 degrees for about 35 minutes. For pie, bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes and 325 degrees for 30 minutes.

Personally, I reduce the sugar to 3/4 cup for for a pie, and half that for casserole — or, more accurately, I double everything else for the casserole, which then fits into a 9″x13″ dish. For casserole I also put crushed pecans on top. I may have to try that ginger idea, though!

LikeLiked by 2 people