Sweet Potato Pie, Part 1

Just for kicks, I decided to take step-by-step pictures of this recipe-testing process.
If you humor me and make it through to the very end...bless you. You're a saint =)

First, toss two sweet potatoes (or the equivalent of 1 pound) into a pot of water. Crank the heat up. It's gotta boil.



When it comes to a full, rolling boil, set a timer for about 40 minutes.



Now, eat a cookie even though you shouldn’t, drink milk in a Christmas goblet, and flip through The Lady and Son’s Just Desserts cookbook.

Or

You could do something constructive, like clean out the cabinet under your kitchen sink, or re-pot your plants, or give yourself a manicure.
Meanwhile, the water turns yellower and nastier.



After you do whatever for about 28 minutes, remember that you should have been making the pie crust all this time.

So, very quickly, mix up the ingredients in your food processor. If you wouldn’t mind too terribly, cut your finger on the evil, jagged-edged blade. It would make me feel better.



Put a band-aid on your thankfully-not-bleeding finger, and roll out the pie crust.




A nifty trick I read the other day to spread the flour out on the counter evenly: wipe it down with a wet washcloth, and before it dries, sprinkle with flour and rub it around evenly. Works like a charm :)

Keep rollin’…you want it to be thin, but not too thin...

Obviously, I got a little carried away with the rolling. Because my crust would not come off the counter in one piece. It was too delicate. Next time, I’ve got to try rolling it out between wax paper sheets.

I’d also feel better if you’d make a mess of your pie crust. Patch it up. Fail miserably at getting it into the pie pan. Whatever.



Since there isn”t enough dough around the edges to create perfectly shaped scallops or ridges or little criss-cross designs, trim the extra.



If you don’t have Winnie the Pooh band-aids, go out and buy yourself some now.

Next, remove the happily boiling sweet potatoes…



Put them in a colander, and run cold water over them.



Peel the gross skin off. Inadvertently lose band-aid in the process.



Put the taters in the mixer. Because you feel like it, and because you can, (and because it might make things a little fluffier), put the wire whisk attachment on.




And then come the rest of the ingredients:

1 stick of butter, last-minute-because-I-forgot-softened in the microwave.



1 cup of sugar

and 2 eggs.

Wish I could actually crack an egg with one hand. As you can see, I only succeeded in puncturing it with my thumb.




Next up, nutmeg…



Cinnamon...



And vanilla.



Oh yeah, and somewhere in there, I added 1/2 cup of milk.

Start mixing.

Start panicking, because it’s looking a little like cottage cheese.

Change the attachment to Old Faithful.



And mix some more.

I don’t think it’s supposed to look like this.

I think I’ll blame it on the butter.



Suppress your gag reflex.



And pour it into the expertly molded pie crust.



Is it just me or does that look curdled and gross?



Ah well. Into the oven it goes and let the chips fall where they may.



Now. After cleaning up your mess, eat chili and a baked potato for dinner, watch Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown, and nervously make plans to bury this pie in the back yard, praying that no animal or human will ever find it.

Or, you could take a wild chance and try it.

Tomorrow, I’ll post pictures of the results. And if it’s any good, the full recipe.

~ Happy cooking! ~