I’ve been on a roll with desserts the last couple of weeks. Both have been Southern favorites which means NOT low calorie and NOT low fat! Jim has been fussing at me about the abundance of sweets to which he’s had access. We have absolutely no willpower around our house and if it’s in sight, it gets eaten. We each ate three hand pies tonight! As I said… no willpower. Our strategy for maintaining a reasonable weight is to limit access to the good stuff!
Sweet potato pie was always a staple at my grandmothers house for the holidays. She was a fantastic southern cook and her sweet potato pie was always one of my favorites. Sweet potatoes run in my blood; after all “The Sweet Potato Capital of the World” is in Vardaman, MS! It’s only natural as fall rolls around that I find a sweet potato dessert to share.
These hand pies are very similar to my grandmother’s sweet potato pie recipe. I’m not a big fan of masking the wonderful flavor of the sweet potatoes with ginger, allspice, and nutmeg. I only use cinnamon in this recipe.
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 sticks butter, cubed
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup iced water
2 cups mashed sweet potatoes
1 stick butter, room temperature
3/4 cups evaporated milk
3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup pecan halves
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/8 tsp salt
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
1. Melt butter.
2. Mix melted butter, pecans, maple syrup, and salt.
3. Place pecan on a small baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.
4. Set aside.
1. Peel 2 large sweet potatoes and cut into 1 inch pieces.
2. Place sweet potatoes in a pot of water and bring to a boil.
3. Cook for about 15 minutes or until a knife easily cuts through the potato.
4. Remove from the heat and drain in a colander.
5. Pour potatoes into a bowl and mash with a potato masher.
6. Measure two cups of the mashed potatoes.
7. With potato masher, blend the butter into the potato.
8. Add eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon and blend well.
9. Place bowl in the refrigerator while making dough cups.
1. Cut the butter into 1/2 inch cubes.
2. Place butter in the freezer for 15 minutes.
3. Mix flour, salt, and sugar.
4. Place flour mixture in the freezer for 5 minutes.
5. Place half the butter and half the flour in the bowl of a food processor.
6. Pulse several times until butter is in pea-sized pieces.
7. Place in large bowl and repeat with remaining butter and flour mixture.
8. Add processed flour and butter to bowl.
9. Add water to mixture one tablespoon at a time, blending with a fork.
10. Continue adding water and mixing until the dough sticks together.
11. Form the dough into a ball without over-handling.
12. Cut the dough into 4 equal sized portions.
13. Wrap dough portions in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
14. Cut a round paper template 5 inches in diameter.
15. Take a dough portion and flatten into a disk.
16. On a floured surface, roll dough to 1/8 inch thickness.
17. Place paper template on dough and cut around template with a paring knife.
18. Place dough circle in the cup of a muffin tin, carefully pressing the dough to form into the cup.
19. Crimp the dough by pressing the index finger of one hand into the thumb and index finger of the other hand.
20. Pour the sweet potato mixture into the dough cups filling 2/3 of the cup.
21. Top each pie with a pecan half.
22. Bake for 45 minutes or until the filling has set and the crust is light brown.
https://southernboydishes.com/2012/10/09/sweet-potato-hand-pies/
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I just made these for a dessert potluck and they were a hit! Only thing I would say was that the filling and crust recipes yielded much more than just for 12 hand pies it could really even be up to 18 with the left over I have…Good things to complain about since now I can make more!
What is it about southern food that is high in sweet and higher in fat? Maybe that’s why southern food is SO good. 🙂 I love a good sweet potato pie and these little hand pies look delicious! A lot of goodness in a couple of bites. YUMMY!