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Slice of Sweet Potato Pie on white plate with pie in background

Sweet Potato, Eggnog, and Bourbon Pie

Flavored with eggnog, bourbon, and warm spices, this Sweet Potato, Eggnog, and Bourbon Pie is silky smooth. Add a dollop of whipped cream when serving, if desired.
Course Dessert
Cuisine Canadian
Keyword bourbon, eggnog, pie, single crust pie, sweet potato eggnog and bourbon pie, sweet potato pie, sweet potatoes
Servings 8
My Island Bistro Kitchen Barbara99

Ingredients

Pastry:

Pastry for 9”, 9½” or 10” single crust pie:

  • 1¾ cups all-purpose flour (or gluten-free 1-to-1 baking flour, if required)
  • 1¼ tsp granulated sugar
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ¼ cup butter
  • ¼ cup lard
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • ¾ tsp white vinegar
  • Enough ice-cold water to equal 2/3 cup when combined with the beaten egg and vinegar

Filling:

  • 2 lbs sweet potatoes (see Note below)
  • 3 tbsp butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 2 large egg yolks, room temperature
  • 2/3 cup plus 1 tbsp full-fat eggnog, room temperature
  • 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
  • 2½ tbsp bourbon
  • 1½ tsp pure vanilla extract
  • ½ cup brown sugar, packed
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1¼ tsp cinnamon
  • ½ tsp nutmeg
  • ¼ tsp cloves
  • 1/8 tsp allspice
  • 1/8 tsp ginger
  • ¼ tsp salt

Instructions

For Baking Sweet Potatoes:

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Position oven rack in center of oven.
  2. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or tinfoil. Spray lined sheet lightly with cooking spray.
  3. Wash sweet potatoes and prick all over with tines of fork. Place potatoes on prepared baking sheet and transfer to oven. Bake potatoes until fork inserts easily into potatoes. Depending on the size of potatoes, this can take anywhere from about 45-60+ minutes. Remove potatoes from oven and cool enough to handle. Split potatoes open and scoop out pulp into a bowl. Mash well with a potato masher and measure out 1¾ cups of mashed potato. Set aside. Even if the mashed potato yields more than 1¾ cups, only use 1¾ cups in the recipe.

For Pastry:

  1. In medium-sized bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, and salt together. Cut the butter and lard into small chunks and add to the flour. Toss to coat the fats with the flour mixture. With a wire pastry cutter, cut the butter and lard into the flour until the fats resemble the size of large peas.
  2. In a measuring cup, whisk the egg and vinegar together. Add enough ice-cold water to measure 2/3 cup. Add the egg-vinegar-water mixture to the flour, small amounts at a time, and mix with a fork. Add only enough liquid mixture that the dough clings together and can be formed into a ball. Note that it is unlikely that the entire 2/3 cup of liquid will be needed. Do not overwork dough or it will become tough.
  3. Form dough into disk shape, place in sealed plastic bag, and transfer to refrigerator for about 25-30 minutes to chill. Remove disk from the refrigerator and, on lightly floured surface, roll pastry to desired thickness, generally between 1/16”and 1/8” thick and large enough in diameter to line pie plate. Transfer pastry into a deep 9”, 9½” or 10” diameter pie plate that has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray or very lightly greased and has the capacity to hold approximately 4 cups of liquid filling. Trim excess dough and finish pastry edges as desired. Dock pastry bottom in several places with fork tines to prevent air pockets from forming while the crust bakes. Refrigerate pie shell for a minimum of 30 minutes (or place in freezer for 20 minutes or so) to chill in order to reduce pastry shrinkage during baking.
  4. While pastry shell is chilling, position oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 400°F.
  5. Crumple and distress a piece of parchment paper large enough to mold around the inside of the pie plate, being careful not to tear the paper and allowing enough overhang by which to grasp it to remove the ceramic pie weights or dried beans that will be placed in it for blind baking and which will be removed part way through the crust par-baking process. This crumpling/distressing procedure will weaken the parchment paper, allowing it to be more pliable for fitting into the pie plate. Depending on the quality of parchment paper, repeat with a second piece of distressed parchment paper, if necessary. The paper lining needs to be strong enough to hold the pie weights/dry beans when they are being lifted from the pie shell part way through the par-baking.
  6. Remove the pie shell from the refrigerator (or freezer) and place on a rimmed cookie sheet or pizza pan for ease of transfer to and from oven. Carefully fit the distressed parchment paper inside the pie shell. Repeat with the second layer of parchment paper, if necessary. Add ceramic pie weights or dry uncooked beans, filling the pie plate about 2/3 to ¾ full, and ensuring the pie weights/dried beans are evenly distributed.
  7. Transfer pie shell to the oven and immediately reduce the oven heat to 375°F. Bake pie shell for 17-18 minutes. Remove shell from oven and carefully remove the pie weights/dried beans and parchment paper and transfer them to a heatproof bowl. Be very careful as the pie weights/dried beans will be hot!
  8. As some of the earlier pierced holes in the pie shell may have filled in during the blind baking process with the pie weights/dried beans, further pierce the pie shell in several places with the tines of a fork, if necessary, to prevent it from forming air bubbles as it continues to bake. Return pie shell to oven and bake for another 10 minutes. Cool shell in pan on wire rack for about 30 minutes before adding filling. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.
  9. While pie shell is cooling, prepare the filling as follows.

For Filling:

  1. Place 1¾ cups of mashed sweet potatoes in bowl of food processor (or blender). Pulse several times to start to purée the sweet potato. Add cool melted butter and purée potato until smooth, stopping as necessary to scrape down sides of bowl with spatula.
  2. Blend in eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, pulsing after each addition to blend in with the potato.
  3. In small bowl or measuring cup, combine the eggnog, maple syrup, bourbon and vanilla. Slowly pour in to the chute of the food processor or blender while pulsing machine.
  4. In bowl, combine sugars, cornstarch, spices, and salt. Add the sugar-spice mixture, about a third at a time, to the sweet potato mixture, pulsing after each addition. When all ingredients have been added, purée mixture an additional 30 seconds. Refrigerate filling until pie shell has cooled a bit.
  5. Transfer filling to prepared pie shell. Bake pie for 65-75 minutes until top is set and knife inserted into center of pie comes out clean. Place pie on wire rack to cool completely to room temperature. Pie cuts best if refrigerated for at least 2 hours. Add a dollop of whipped cream, if desired.

Recipe Notes

Yield: 8 servings

Note: 1¾ cups of mashed cooked sweet potato is required for this recipe. Even if the amount of cooked potato equals more than 1¾ cups, only use 1¾ cups mashed potato in this recipe.

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