Ginger Sweet Potato Pie With Cinnamon Meringue Recipes

Steps:

• Place the sweet potatoes into a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and allow to steam dry for a minute or two. Transfer the sweet potatoes into a mixing bowl, and allow to cool for about 10 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a 9-inch pie dish with unbaked pie crust.
• Mash the sweet potatoes smoothly, and mix in butter, 3/4 cup of sugar, salt, milk, egg yolks, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. Pour the filling into the pie crust.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the filling is set and the pie crust is beginning to brown, 25 to 30 minutes.
• Place the egg whites into a clean mixing bowl, and beat until stiff with an electric mixer set on medium, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract, until the mixture holds firm peaks and is glossy. Remove the pie from the oven and spoon meringue over the sweet potato filling, swirling the meringue into attractive peaks. Return to oven, and bake until the meringue turns golden brown, about 10 minutes, watching carefully to avoid burning. Allow to cool before serving.

Steps:

• Pulse flour, sugar and salt in a food processor until blended. Add butter; pulse until butter is the size of peas. Combine egg yolk and 2 tablespoons ice water; slowly add to processor until dough holds together, adding remaining ice water, if needed, 1 tablespoon at a time. Shape dough into a disk; wrap and refrigerate 1 hour or overnight., Preheat oven to 400°. Scrub sweet potatoes; pierce several times with a fork. Bake until tender, 45-50 minutes. Cool slightly; peel and mash to yield about 4 cups. Reduce oven setting to 350°. , On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to a 1/8-in.-thick circle; transfer to a 9-in. deep-dish pie plate. Trim to 1/2 in. beyond rim of plate; flute edge. Refrigerate 30 minutes., For filling, beat sugar, butter, pie spice and salt until blended. Add eggs and vanilla; beat in cooled sweet potatoes until smooth. Add filling to chilled crust. Bake on bottom rack until a knife inserted in center comes out clean, 40-45 minutes. Keep warm., Meanwhile, for meringue, combine sugar, water, molasses and salt in a small saucepan over medium-high heat; , using a pastry brush dipped in water, wash down the sides of the pan to eliminate sugar crystals. When mixture comes to a boil, stop brushing. Cook without stirring until a thermometer reads 240° (soft-ball stage)., As molasses mixture cooks, preheat broiler. Beat egg whites, cream of tartar and spices on medium speed until soft peaks form. While beating, gradually drizzle hot molasses mixture over egg whites; continue beating until stiff glossy peaks form. Spread meringue over warm pie; broil 4-6 in. from heat until slightly browned, 1-2 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Steps:

• Make filling:
• Preheat oven to 400°F. and line a baking sheet with foil.
• Prick sweet potatoes in several places with a fork and on baking sheet bake in middle of oven until very soft, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. When potatoes are cool enough to handle, halve and scoop out enough flesh to measure 2 cups, reserving remainder for another use. In a food processor purée flesh with all remaining filling ingredients except ginger until smooth. Finely chop ginger and stir into filling. Filling may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring filling to room temperature before proceeding.
• On a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin roll out dough into a 14-inch round (about 1/8 inch thick) and fit into a 9-inch (1-quart) glass pie plate. Trim dough, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang, and crimp edge decoratively. With a fork prick bottom and side of shell all over. Chill shell 30 minutes, or until firm.
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Line shell with foil and fill with pie weights or raw rice. Bake shell in middle of oven 25 minutes and carefully remove foil and weights or rice. Bake shell until just pale golden, about 10 minutes more. Pour filling into shell and bake pie in middle of oven 40 minutes.
• Make meringue after pie has baked 30 minutes:
• In a large metal bowl stir together sugar and cinnamon until combined well. Set bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and add whites, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove bowl from heat and with an electric mixer beat whites until they hold stiff, glossy peaks.
• Mound meringue in center of hot filling and spread almost to edge of pie. Bake pie in middle of oven until meringue is golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes more. Serve pie warm or at room temperature.

Steps:

• In a food processor, combine the flour, salt and ginger; cover and pulse to blend. Add butter and shortening; cover and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs., While processing, gradually add water just until moist crumbs form. Shape into a disk; wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until easy to handle., Preheat oven to 425°. Roll out pastry to fit a 9-in. deep-dish pie plate. Transfer to pie plate. Trim pastry to 1/2 in. beyond edge of plate; flute or press edges. Refrigerate until ready to fill., For filling, in a small saucepan, combine the coconut milk, brown sugar and cream cheese. Cook and stir until smooth. Transfer to a large bowl; cool 5 minutes. Whisk in the sweet potatoes, eggs, lemon juice, vanilla, salt and cinnamon. Pour into crust., Bake on lower oven rack for 10-15 minutes. Reduce oven setting to 325°; bake until set, 40-50 minutes. Cover edges with foil during the last 15 minutes to prevent overbrowning if necessary. Cool on a wire rack. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours before topping with meringue., For meringue, combine sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium-high heat; using a pastry brush dipped in water, wash down the sides of the pan to eliminate sugar crystals. When mixture comes to a boil, stop brushing. Cook without stirring until a thermometer reads 240° (soft-ball stage)., As sugar mixture cooks, preheat broiler. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar on medium speed until soft peaks form. While beating, gradually drizzle hot sugar mixture over egg whites; continue beating until stiff glossy peaks form. , Place marshmallow creme in a separate large bowl; fold in a third of the egg white mixture, then fold in the remaining mixture. If necessary, beat again until stiff glossy peaks form., Spread meringue over pie; broil 4-6 in. from heat until slightly browned, 1-2 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Steps:

• On a lightly floured surface and using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out a disk of dough into a circle about ¼-inch thick. Starting at one end, gently roll up the dough onto the rolling pin. Unfurl the dough over a 9-inch pie plate, preferably ceramic, and press it in lightly, making sure it's lining the plate.
• Trim so that there's about ½ inch of excess dough hanging over the edge of the pie plate. (If the dough feels warm, refrigerate it for 15 minutes.) Tuck the excess dough under itself so it is flush with the edge of the pie plate; leave the pie like this for a straight-edge finish, or crimp as desired. Dock the base and sides all over with a fork and refrigerate at least 30 minutes, and up to 2 hours.
• Place a rack on the bottom shelf of the oven, and place a baking stone, if you have one, on the rack. Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Use a small brush to evenly paint egg wash on the edge of the crust. Cut a square of parchment paper and use it to line the crust. Fill with pie weights (or dried beans) up to the top edge. Place the plate on a baking sheet lined with parchment or foil.
• Transfer the baking sheet to the oven, placing it directly on the baking stone if using. Bake crust until the outer edge is just starting to turn golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove the parchment and pie weights, and continue to bake until the base appears set, 2 to 4 minutes more. If the dough puffs up anywhere, you can puncture it with a fork. Cool the crust completely. Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees.
• Make the filling: In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla and melted butter to combine.
• Add the sweet potatoes, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg and mix to combine. Whisk in the heavy cream until evenly incorporated. (If you have an immersion blender and want to get the texture even smoother, you can blend it now too.) Transfer the pie plate to the prepared baking sheet and pour the custard into the crust.
• Transfer the baking sheet to the oven, placing it directly on the baking stone if using. Bake until the crust is evenly golden brown and the custard appears set around the outer edge, about 35 minutes; the center of the pie may still be noticeably jiggly. Let cool completely at room temperature on a rack.
• Make the meringue: Place the egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and mix briefly just to combine. Stir the sugar and ⅓ cup/80 milliliters water together in a small pot. Place the pot over medium heat, and stir until it begins to simmer, then stop stirring. Use a pastry brush dipped in water to brush away any sugar crystals that have washed up on the sides of the pot.
• Continue to cook the sugar mixture until it reaches 235 degrees on a thermometer, about 4 to 5 minutes; when it does, start whipping the egg whites on medium speed. (The goal is to get them lightly whipped and foamy by the time the sugar reaches 240 degrees.)
• When the sugar reaches 240 degrees, remove the pot from the heat. With the mixer still running on medium speed, gently pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl in a slow, steady stream. Continue whipping until the meringue reaches medium peaks, 3 to 4 minutes more.
• Prepare two disposable piping bags by cutting openings large enough to accommodate pastry tips: an open star tip and a French star tip. Divide the meringue between the two bags.
• Starting with one of the bags, pipe shapes on top of the filling around the outside edge of the pie, varying the shapes in size and design. (Piping straight downward will form a basic star shape, or you can pipe in a spiral to create a sort-of rosette design.) The piped shapes should be random and can be layered on top of one another for the fullest look. Continue with both bags until the whole outer portion of the pie is covered, leaving a 3-inch circle of filling exposed in the center. (You'll most likely have extra meringue: See Note.) Alternatively, you can skip the piping, and scoop the meringue onto the pie, swirling it with the back of a spoon or offset spatula.
• Use a kitchen torch to toast the meringue, if desired. Serve within 2 hours. Store leftovers in the refrigerator, tented with foil.