Nana's Sweet Potato Pie

I hope you had a Merry Christmas!

I'm enjoying myself at home in the Suwanee suburbs just north of Atlanta.  I haven't left our town once since my arrival, and I'm okay with that.
Christmas was spectacular! It was my first white Christmas ever! (Can you believe we got over an inch of snow in Atlanta?)  It was also probably the calmest Christmas we've ever had.  My dad came over, and stayed for hours, entertaining us with his wit, intelligence, and amble energy.  He taught me his "new technique" for cooking Collard Greens, and gave me a few cooking tips.  The man's a great cook.

Nana made the sweetest Sweet Potato Pies!
On the 23rd she made the first of many, but realized too late that all of her pie tins are at my Mom's house, so she decided to bake the pie in a square Pyrex dish. Then she realized she only had one sweet potato, because earlier in the day I had stuck in and stolen them all : )
So this pie turned out square and as thin as a pancake.  Nana wasn't very proud of it, but I loved it!  I was immediately excited by the uniqueness of the pie.  Then came my first bite; I felt the love amongst the flaky sweet crust and perfectly textured filling.  She has no recipe for this pie, but rather adds a little of this and a little of that, until perfection is achieved. Nobody can make a Sweet Potato Pie like my Nana can!

The appearance of the pie can be improved by a fancy crust, and a fancy pie tin.  To break tradition it can be made in a square Pyrex.  But the pie she bakes is so incredibly delicious because of the love she puts into it.

On Christmas Eve Nana made a few more pies, and I watched and took notes so that I'll be able to make a pie as good as hers.  She, of course, made a special square pie just for me!

This morning as soon as I got out of the bed my heart guided me to the kitchen for some of that pie.  Every morsel tastes like heaven.  The crust is from a boxed mix but, my God, it's good.  The pie's filling is sweet in a subtle way, not too far from the the sweet potato's natural sweetness.  The canned Evaporated Milk gives it the creamiest and lightest texture.

I only eat Sweet Potato pie during the holidays, and the rest of the year I think about how much I love it.