The Best Sweet Potato Pie

Name: The Best Sweet Potato Pie
Yield: Serves 8 to 10 (Makes one 9-inch pie)
Ingredients: 1 1/4 cups, unbleached all-purpose flour; 1/2 teaspoon, table salt; 1 tablespoon, granulated sugar; 4 tablespoons, unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 1/4-inch pieces; 3 tablespoons, vegetable shortening, chilled; 4 - 5 tablespoons, ice water; 2 pounds (907 grams), sweet potatoes (about 5 small to medium); 2 tablespoons, unsalted butter, softened; 3 , large eggs; 2 , egg yolks; 1 cup, granulated sugar; 1/2 teaspoon, fresh ground nutmeg; 1/4 teaspoon, table salt; 2 - 3 tablespoons, bourbon; 1 tablespoon, molasses (optional); 1 teaspoon, vanilla extract; 2/3 cup, whole milk; 1/4 cup, packed dark brown sugar

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Appears in Cook's Illustrated November/December 1999

Desserts or Baked Goods

The problem with most sweet potato pies is that they are pumpkin pies in disguise. Our challenge was to create a blue-ribbon dessert that still tasted like sweet potatoes.

SERVES8 to 10 (Makes one 9-inch pie)

TIME2½ hours, plus 1 hour 10 minutes chilling, 30 minutes freezing, and 2 hours cooling

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

For a sweet potato pie recipe that would really taste like sweet potato pie, we microwaved and mashed the potatoes, which preserved some bite in their texture. White sugar and a touch of molasses brought us still closer to the pie we were l...

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