Another seasonal recipe for your weekly farm newsletter!

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For Crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup pecans
3 tbs. Brown sugar
1 stick butter
1/3 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
1/2 tsp. Salt
4-5 tbs. Ice water

For Filling:
1 and 3/4 lbs. Sweet potatoes (2 large, red-skinned with dark orange flesh)
1 cup whipping cream
3 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. Ceylon cinnamon (Ceylon has a softer, fruitier flavor without harsh bite)
1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped out with back of knife
1/4 tsp. Salt
Plus:
1 egg white beaten for crust

For the crust, put the pecans in food processor and pulse to chop fine. Add the flours, salt and sugar to the food processor next and pulse to combine. Add cold butter one tablespoon at a time and pulse a few times until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add ice water one tablespoon at a time and pulse just until dough starts to come together. You may not need all the ice water. Less water is best. Try not to overmix. Gather dough into a ball and flatten into a flat disk. Cover in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour and up to a day.

Roll the dough out between sheets of plastic wrap to about a 14-inch round. Peel off top layer of wrap and then invert dough into pie dish, remove wrap. Trim the edges to 3/4 inch overhang and crimp. Cover crust with plastic wrap. Place dish with crust in the refrigerator to chill while you make filling.

Place rack in bottom third of the oven. Preheat oven to 400°F.

Peel sweet potatoes and cut into 1-inch cubes. Steam potatoes for about 20-30 minutes until fork tender. Allow to cool a bit and mash with potato masher until smooth. (You can also use a food processor and pulse a few times). Measure one and one-half cups of puree for the pie, placing this into the food processor. Add brown sugar and pulse to combine. Add three eggs pulsing to combine, drizzle in cream while blade is running to mix in. Add salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and the seeds from the half of vanilla bean, reserving the pod for other use. Pulse to combine well.

Remove crust from fridge, remove wrap and brush with beaten egg white. Add filling. Cover crust edges with foil to prevent over-browning for the first 30 minutes of baking. Bake until the center is set and the edges puff up, about 40-45 minutes. Remove the foil from the crust halfway through baking so the crust will brown.

Recipe ©Beth Bader, The Expatriate's Kitchen. Have a Wonderful and Safe Holiday!

http://expatriateskitchen.blogspot.com [1]
http://www.eatlocalchallenge.com [2]