Favorite Holiday Recipe

12 Days of Christmas: Day 9

I think my favorite holiday recipe would have to be Sweet Potato Pie. If you're not from the South, you may not even be familiar with it! My husband tried it for the first time on Thanksgiving at my grandparents' house and agrees with me that it's much better than pumpkin pie even! It's lighter, fluffier, and much less dense...and has all the flavor of cinnamon and nutmeg, with marshmallow on top.

My aunt "Bill" used to make it year after year, from scratch, and it was so delicious. She used to sneak one in in the middle of the summer sometimes just for me :) I've always loved everything about the holiday season, so it was nice to have a little reminder in July from time to time.  I think of her all the time, but I miss her most during the holidays. I have never seen anyone derive so much joy from cooking for other people.  

While her pie was delicious, I normally try to go with a "lighter" version so that I can enjoy it more often without feeling guilty. I found this recipe online at some point, but I cannot remember where for the life of me.

Sweet Potato Pie Recipe

Ingredients:
PIE:
- 4 cups of sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into roughly equal sized pieces
- 1 banana
- 2 tbsp of light butter 

- 3 packets of Splenda 

- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- tsp fresh lemon juice

TOPPING:
- 1/2 cup marshmallow cream

- 1 cup liquid egg whites
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
Prep the sweet potatoes and transfer to a large pot, add water to barely cover. Cover and bring to a boil, let cook until the potatoes are soft, about 20 minutes. Drain. When the potatoes are nearly cooked, puree the banana in a food processor. Add the hot sweet potatoes, butter, lemon juice, salt, nutmeg, and Splenda packets. Mash together until well blended. Transfer to a pie dish lightly sprayed with a non-fat cooking spray. Bake at 350F for about 15 – 20 minutes or until heated well through. Remove from oven and let cool about 15 min.

For the topping, start by beating liquid egg whites, vanilla extract and sugar to a soft peak. Then, in a separate bowl mix marshamallow with 1 part of the soft peaked egg white mixture with a wire whisk, until well blended and marshmallow creme has softened up. Then, beat remaining egg white mixture to a stiff peak and SLOWLY fold into marshmallow mixture in 2 parts. Once everything has been folded into one meringue looking batch, evenly spread onto top of pie, creating small peaks and mounds for an aesthetic look. Bake in oven on 350 degrees for about 15 min or until marshmallow/egg white layer turns a soft golden brown. Serve fresh from oven. Enjoy!