Christy Jordan is the publisher of SouthernPlate.com, her website dedicated to classic Southern dishes and quick and easy family favorites. She holds a B.S. in Home Economics and is a proud wife and mother living in Madison.

Down south we do love our sweet potatoes. Most restaurants (if they know what’s good for them!) serve some form of sweet potatoes as a side dish. Steak houses offer them in place of a baked potato and bring them wrapped in foil, cracked open with steam rising out and a large pat of butter already melting into a generous spooning of brown sugar and cinnamon.

No, it’s not a dessert, its a side dish. Sure they usually have a nice brown sugar coating and yes they may taste like a dessert, but sweet potatoes are a side dish. They are, after all, a vegetable, are they not? See how smart we are in the south?

We call it a side dish and then still get to eat dessert at the end!

I have several very well loved sweet potato recipes, so you haven’t seen the last of orange food from me. Growing up, my mother made us sweet potato pie covered in toasted marshmallows. I still love that. I’ve also added my own recipes for sweet potato cake with a thick coconut frosting and one of my dazzler recipes, Sweet Potato Creme Brulee. Still, to be completely honest, NOTHING tastes as good as THIS sweet potato recipe!

Today I’m going to bring you my grandmother’s recipe for Sweet Potato Pie, often referred to as Sweet Potato Casserole.

I think folks are confused as to whether it is a pie or a casserole since it doesn’t have a crust. However, I’ve lived here for thirty some odd years and I have never once seen a sweet potato pie which actually had a crust. I have to admit though, I don’t know what the heck to call this. Technically, it is made in a pie plate so I am going with pie on this one.

I’ve even heard Grandmama go back and forth. The name is gonna be your call entirely then. Sweet potato pie, sweet potato casserole, this dish by any other name would taste as sweet!

Grandmama’s Sweet Potato Pie

Sweet Potatoes:
1 C sugar
2 Eggs
1 Stick Margarine
1 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
3.5 oz sweetened flaked coconut

Peel and slice sweet potatoes. Place in pot and cover with water until fork tender. Drain well and place in mixing bowl. Add margarine and beat until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, while the mixer is going. Add vanilla, sugar, and cinnamon, mix well. Toss in Coconut and blend. Place in pie plate and bake at 350 for twenty minutes.

Topping:
1 C Brown Sugar
1 Stick Margarine
1 C Flour
1 C Pecans
Stir together flour and brown sugar, breaking up any lumps. Cut in margarine. Stir in pecans. Spoon or sprinkle on top of sweet potato pie. Return to oven and continue baking at 350 until golden, about thirty to forty minutes.