“Steve,” my mom asked, “is there a kind of pie that your
family usually has on Thanksgiving?”
Steve and I
had traveled up to Alpena from Hope College during Thanksgiving break for some
time away from college, a chance to do some laundry for free, and for some home cooked
food.
“Well, my mom
usually makes sweet potato pie every year,” he answered.
“Oh… well,
I’ve never made sweet potato. I make
pumpkin and it is pretty close,” she said concerned.
Mom is the
classic Midwest housewife. It was her
goal, when I brought anyone home, to feed us good food until we were near
bursting. It feels like people from
Michigan will pretty much go 20 miles out of their way in order to avoid being
rude. Steve, a big guy who can lift
small cars with his legs, has a similar disposition even with his slightly more
intimidating stature.
“I’m sure
it will be just great,” he smiled. “I
like pumpkin.”
Mom took it
as a personal challenge to overstuff us, “Would you boys like some more of
anything?” she asked after we had had thirds on the first course and two pieces
of pie: one of apple and one of pumpkin.
“Oh no,
Mrs. Harris, I’m good,” Steve had politely declined.
“Yeah, Mom,
I couldn’t eat another bite,” I added.
“Oh,” she
looked disappointed as though she had failed, “you didn’t like it.”
Steve and I
groaned as we worked on a third slice of pie and mom smiled.
Years
passed, and I thought of Steve pretty much every time my family had sweet
potatoes. Little Ellen came into our
life and quickly established pumpkin pie as her favorite. She also fell in love with sweet potatoes
baked and sprinkled with brown sugar. So,
it is 20 years late, Steve lives in Michigan and I’m in Alaska, but I am
finally getting to that pie.
Steve was
gracious enough to send his mom’s recipe and I have made a few changes to fit
within our dietary constraints. I’ll
include both recipes and encourage you to try either or both.
Again, our
family has made some dietary changes for Ellen’s sake (she is allergic to eggs
and we think dairy might affect her eczema), and Myra’s gluten allergy (we use
Einkorn or gluten free flour for her), so this is kind of another installment
of the Conservative Hippie's Cookbook.
Mrs. McBride’s Original Sweet Potato Pie Recipe:
* 1/3 cup butter or 1/3 margarine, softened
* 1/2 cup of sugar
* 2 eggs, lightly beaten
* 3⁄4 cup evaporated milk
* 2 cups mashed sweet potatoes
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1⁄2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
* 9 inches unbaked pie shells
Mrs. McBride’s Sweet Potato Pie with my vegan substitutions:
1/3 cup Crisco (I was out of vegan butter)
½ cup of sugar
3 t of Ener-g Egg replacer
¾ cup canned coconut milk (mostly the cream if possible)
2 cups mashed sweet potatoes
1 t vanilla extract
½ t ground cinnamon
½ t ground nutmeg
¼ t salt
9 inch unbaked pie crust (leave a comment if you want our
gluten free crust recipe and I can post it)
DIRECTIONS
1. In a mixing bowl, cream butter (or Crisco) and sugar.
2. Add eggs (Ener-g egg replacer); mix well.
3. Add milk, sweet potatoes, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and
salt; mix well.
4. Pour into pie shell.
5. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.
6. Reduce heat to 350 degrees; bake 35-40 minutes longer or
until pie tests done.
7. Cool; Store in refrigerator.
Should you make the vegan version without the eggs, just know that it will come out of the oven a little wobbly and won't pass the toothpick test. Given time to cool down a little, the pie will firm up.
 |
| Well worth the 20-year wait- Thanks Mrs. McBride for a new Harris family favorite. |
No comments:
Post a Comment