Today is the day that I will receive “the envelope.” Yes, I am referring to the envelope that contains the answer to the question, “Did all of these months of studying, constantly reading news sources, and stress-induced baking actually translate into a completed Master’s of Diplomacy and International Commerce?”
Although this post is going up at 5am (so I will be driving to the gym, to my last Chaos class (spin/bootcamp) before leaving town for [hopefully] better things, I will not get my envelope until 2pm, at which point I will celebrate (I’m optimistic right now) by putting on my new dress that I paid too much for and attending my school’s graduation reception with my family who has flown and driven into Kentucky for this occasion.
I mentioned before that there was much baking going on in my kitchen as a kind of stress-relief. One of those baked goods was a sweet potato pie for a classmate of mine who, despite having grown up in Kentucky, has never tasted the goodness that is a sweet potato pie. Well, I made sure to correct that hideous oversight as soon as I could and brought it to my Energy Security class within a few days.
Sweet Potato Pie
Adapted from Epicurious
- 2 medium sweet potatoes (about 1 1/4 pounds)
- 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk*
- 1/4 cup heavy cream*
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon bourbon
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell (I use King Arthur’s recipe)
*Instead of vanilla almond milk and cream, you can use whole milk and a teaspoon of vanilla.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Prick the sweet potatoes with a fork and roast them on a shallow baking pan in the middle of the oven until very tender, about 1 1/4 hours. Cool to room temperature.
Raise the oven temperature to 400°F, and place a shallow baking pan on the bottom rack.
Scoop the flesh from potatoes into a bowl and discard the skins. Mash the sweet potatoes with a fork until smooth. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and stir in the sugar. Add the melted butter mixture to the sweet potatoes with the milk, cream and the eggs and beat with a whisk until smooth. Whisk in the remaining ingredients (the filling will be quite liquid). Pour the filling into the pie shell.
Carefully transfer the pie to the heated shallow baking pan on the bottom rack of the oven and bake until the filling is just set, about 40 minutes. Transfer the pie to a rack to cool.
Sweet Spatulas 