Favourite Sweet Potato Pie

Sweet potato pie is the Southern answer to pumpkin, and the case for it gets stronger with every bite. Real cooked yams whip up smoother and silkier than canned purée, the cream gives the filling a richer body, and a half teaspoon of lemon juice does the brightening work nobody warns you about. Without that small splash of acid, the filling tastes flat. With it, the warm spice and natural sweetness of the sweet potato pop.

Use cooled cooked sweet potatoes mashed until completely lump-free. The five-minute beat after the other ingredients go in incorporates air, which keeps the texture light instead of heavy. Bake just until the filling is set at the edges and barely jiggles in the center. A clean knife means it’s overdone; pull the pie before the surface cracks. The filling continues to set as it cools.

Pro Tips

• Roast the sweet potatoes whole rather than boiling. Boiling leaches sugar into the water; roasting concentrates the natural flavor.
• Push the mashed potatoes through a fine-mesh sieve for the silkiest filling. Lumps don’t beat smooth.
• Let the filling rest for 10 minutes after mixing before pouring into the shell. Resting lets trapped air settle so you don’t get a pockmarked surface.
• Cool the pie completely before slicing. Warm sweet potato pie sinks under the knife.

Variations

• Stir in a quarter teaspoon of allspice or cloves for a deeper, more complex spice profile.
• Top each slice with a hot rum sauce as the recipe note suggests, or a swirl of bourbon whipped cream.
• Add a tablespoon of bourbon directly to the filling for a holiday-leaning version of the pie.