Purple Sweet Potato Pie

You know, I'm beginning to think I'm a born klutz. I sprained my ankle on Monday. YES, AGAIN. I last sprained it a couple months back. So it is seriously not funny at all.

Purple Sweet Potato Pie

Either I have weak ankles, or I am just too clumsy/careless for my own good. It is such a pain (literally, and figuratively for the wallet) to be injured. I went for a traditional massage, and also, acupuncture (at the TCM person's recommendation). I mean, I thought it wouldn't hurt (such a pun) to try acupuncture since I have a history with sprained ankles.

Oh my god. Have you guys ever tried acupuncture? It sure hurts like crazy. I mean, when the guy pierced the needles in, it was prickly, and what hurt the most was when he twisted the needles. *insert shouts of pain here* After the treatment, my leg felt so heavy and numb, and I was shuffling my feet rather than walking. However, my ankle felt so much better today. Like seriously. So at least the pain was not for naught.

So yes, sad story of my life. Tsk.

And yes, moving on to the food part of the post...

Purple sweet potatoes! I swear I spam sweet potato goodies at least once a year when my best friend gifts me with them. Following the sweet potato buns here, I have this sweet potato pie.

I had some purple sweet potato powder that I got which I used in the tart dough. The taste was pretty negligible so you can omit and replace with flour if you do not have sweet potato powder on hand. I couldn't decide on a recipe for the sweet potato pie filling, so I just sort of made up my own.

The results were quite decent (I think). It turned out quite creamy (albeit a little too sweet), and the colour was a really gorgeous shade of purple (aided by some extremely purple sweet potatoes). If you scrutinise the photos really carefully, you will see that the filling appears to be a little brownish in some shots, this was caused by the melting caramelised hazelnuts. So if you don't decorate the pie like I did, the filling will stay nice and purple.

Happy December folks!

Purple Sweet Potato Pie
(makes one 8" pie and two 4" tartelettes)

Pate Sucree (adapted from Pierre Herme)
140g unsalted butter, diced, room temperature
75g icing sugar, sifted
50g ground almonds
¼ tsp vanilla bean paste
1 egg, room temperature
25g purple sweet potato powder
220g flour
¼ tsp salt

Sift flour, purple sweet potato powder and salt together in a bowl and set aside.
Beat butter till smooth and creamy using hand mixer.
Add icing sugar, ground almonds, vanilla and continue mixing.
Add the egg and beat to mix in thoroughly.
Add the sifted flour mixture in three additions, mixing to just combine (don't overmix).
Wrap dough with clingwrap and chill in fridge for at least a few hours.
Line tart molds with dough, prick with fork, return to fridge to chill for an hour.
Preheat oven to 175C.
Line the dough-filled tart molds with baking paper and fill with baking pie weights. Bake 20 minutes. Remove pie weights, bake for an additional 5-10 minutes. Leave the oven on.
Cool slightly.

Purple Sweet Potato Filling 
500g purple sweet potato, cooked, mashed and cooled
slightly more than ½ cup condensed milk
2 eggs
45g castor sugar
1 tsp vanilla paste
¼ tsp salt

Add all the ingredients in a large bowl, beat together till smooth.
Pour into prepared tart shells.
Bake for 20 minutes (tartelettes) and 30-45 minutes (pie).
Leave to cool completely, top with lightly whipped cream and caramelised hazelnuts.
Slice and serve.