Sweet Potato Pie with Bourbon

This is a mash-up (pun intended) of a couple different sweet potato pie recipes I dug up from my cookbook library. Fair warning – use as decent of a bourbon as you can afford, because there is a blast of bourbon flavor in this dessert, even after baking.

Preheat oven to 400º F and prepare your favorite pastry pie crust and place in a deep dish pie plate.

Peel a couple good-sized sweet potatoes. Cut in half lengthwise and then crosswise in 1/2″ slices. Place in a 2 quart pan, add a couple of tablespoons of water and set on the fire, covered. When things start to steam, turn down the heat just enough to keep things from burning ,but still steaming. Plenty of water will come out of the potatoes and you won’t be left with a soggy mess of boiled sweet potatoes. Trust me.

Potatoes should be soft and done in about 15-20 minutes. Cool, mash, and measure out 2 cups.

Blend until smooth in a mixing bowl:

2 cups freshly mashed, steamed sweet potato
4 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 large eggs, beaten
3/4 cup sugar
1 t vanilla extract (or 1/2 t. double strength Penzey’s vanilla extract)
1/2 cup good bourbon
1 T lemon juice
3/4 t freshly grated nutmeg
heaping 1/4 t each powdered ginger, cardamon, and cinnamon

Pour into the prepared crust and put in the oven. Immediately lower the temperature to 325º degrees. Bake for approximately 45 minutes or until done. To test, insert a table knife halfway between rim and middle of pie – should come out fairly clean.

Cool, and serve with whipped cream if desired.