Sweet potato and molasses pie with a braided crust
Claire Saffitz x Dessert Person · ♥ 4.7K likes · 147.3K views · 25 min video
Read about cream, custard and chess pies in the BrightCulinary Book
Timestamp
Ingredients
Method
Techniques
- 133 g brown sugar
- 1½ recipe pie crust
- flour
Preheat the oven to 400F with a foil-lined sheet tray.
Roll the bottom crust to about 1/8 inch, turning it often and using a bench scraper to keep it from sticking.
Rolling and fitting the bottom crust
Roll it onto the pin and unroll into a nine-inch pie plate; let it slump into place without stretching, press firmly into the corner and against the lip, and freeze.
Roll out the half portion, fold it back on itself and roll again, then cut many thin strips.
Cutting strips and braiding the edge
Braid three strands tightly without stretching, joining new strands by tucking them under a neighbour.
- 1 whole egg
Beat an egg for egg wash. Trim the bottom crust flush with the plate with a paring knife, brush egg wash around the lip, slide the braid on, press to adhere and weave the ends together.
Attaching the braid with egg wash
Line with foil, fill with pie weights pressed in, and bake at 400F about 20 to 25 minutes until puffed and golden at the braid.
Remove the weights and return to the oven at 325F until the bottom is light golden brown, a little over 10 minutes plus another 5 to 10.
- 16 oz sweet potato
- 5 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp molasses
In a saucepan over medium heat cook the sweet potato with the brown sugar, butter and molasses, driving off water and letting it caramelize in its own sugars.
- 1½ tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- allspice
- ground cloves
- ground nutmeg
Add the cinnamon, salt, ginger, allspice, cloves and nutmeg to bloom; keep stirring and scraping with a flexible spatula until it starts to stick to the bottom, then turn off the heat.
Blooming the spices
- ¾ cup heavy cream
Add the room-temperature heavy cream, cool a little, and blend with a hand blender until silky smooth.
- 4 whole large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Crack the eggs into a bowl and blend with the vanilla; reheat the filling until steaming, then add it to the eggs a little at a time while blending, scraping in the rest once about half is in.
Tempering the eggs
Brush the hot crust and braid with egg wash, pour in the warm filling and smooth the surface.
Egg-washing the hot crust and filling
Bake at 325F about 45 minutes, until the surface puffs and the center has a slight wobble when the tray is jiggled.
Turn the oven off and let the pie cool in it with the door propped open about an hour, to avoid cracking from thermal shock.