sweet potato pie

I've never had sweet potato pie before this year. I'm not sure why--but I suspect that it just simply isn't a northwestern tradition, because many of my friends said the same thing when I baked this pie. We usually eat pumpkin pie at our family thanksgiving get-togethers. Some are homemade, some are store-bought, but the pumpkin pie is always there. It is delicious, comforting, and always the same. Part of holiday traditions is the traditional food, creating a link in your mind between Thanksgiving 2010 and many, many Thanksgivings in the past. I am the sort of person who thrives on that connection. This Thanksgiving, I had to work during the day, and my mother came over to my apartment to cook a feast for the two of us to enjoy when I got off work. I wanted to contribute to the meal, but had such limited time in the days preceding that I only managed to accomplish cranberry sauce and pie.
This pie, however, was worth it. I came across the recipe during my daily perusal of the New York Times--Mark Bittman's Minimalist column directed me to this recipe, which I took one look at and knew I had to make.
I should point out that I did not use any dried coconut in the crust. I can't stand the stuff, and it reminds me of fingernail clippings when I look at it, so I tend to eschew dried coconut entirely. Fresh coconut, coconut milk, coconut cream, and coconut water are all fair game, though!

Ingredients:

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 1/3 cups graham cracker crumbs, made from one package graham crackers (which has 9 full cracker sheets according to the NYT recipe)
1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut (or not, if you are like me!)
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, melted
3 eggs
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Pinch ground cloves
Large pinch salt
1 cup coconut milk.

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. Place sweet potatoes in a medium-sized saucepan, and fill with water to cover them. Cook for 15-20 minutes, or until they are very tender, then drain the water and mash the sweet potatoes.
While the sweet potatoes are cooking, put the graham crackers in a food processor and pulse a few times to crumble them. Add 2 tablespoons of the sugar and 1/4 teaspoon each of the ginger and cinnamon (and the coconut, if you choose to use it), and pulse once or twice; add the melted butter* and pulse just enough to combine.
Press the crust mixture into a 9-inch pie plate and bake for about 7 minutes, just long enough to lightly cook the crust before adding your wet pie filling to it.
In your food processor, combine the eggs with the leftover sugar, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt; pulse until well combined. Add the coconut milk and pulse to combine, then add the sweet potatoes and pulse until smooth. If you are a renegade baker who doesn't fear salmonella poisoning, this mixture tastes delicious.
Pour the sweet potato mixture gently into the pie crust, and bake it for 40-45 minutes, until the pie is set on top but still moist.

The recipe suggests serving the pie warm, which would surely be delicious, but if you are planning in advance, as I was, it is also quite tasty cold or room temperature, for dessert or breakfast (it was the morning after thanksgiving, so I get a free pass), for holiday party or seasonal dinner party. I have made two of these pies this year already, and have managed to capture a single photo, pre-baking.





*I used 6 tbsp of butter in my crust only. I tried using Anna's gingersnaps for my crust instead of graham cracker on my first try, and it didn't work out so well. There was SO much butter, and the crust just wasn't structurally sound. When I made the graham cracker crust as a second try, I was a little gun-shy, and cut back on the amount of butter. I definitely couldn't tell it was missing 2 tbsp of butter. Perhaps next time I will be daring and use all 8.