Thanksgiving Dessert: Purple Sweet Potato Pudding

Add an elegant yet easy dessert to your traditional Thanksgiving table or any special occasion with this creamy Purple Sweet Potato Pudding. Sponsored by Davidson’s Safest Choice Eggs™.

Did the title get your attention? Did it make you want to read this post or did you think there was a typo?!! I always like to mix things up and throw in something wild out there for my friends and family to try. My daughter was watching me make this pudding and commented, “Mommy, you always make the most interesting things.”

Of course, when my husband calls a dish “interesting,” it usually means the kiss of death. But this pudding is not only interesting, but pretty delicious, too.

I have been baking a lot of pies this past month as I test out olive oil crusts for my olive oil cookbook. I am all pied out. Well, not really. I can eat plenty of pies right now, no problem, but I’m certainly not in the mood to bake any more pies.

It certainly is a labor of love to work the dough and lovingly place it in the pie dish. Then you have to painstakingly make it beautiful, whether you are doing a lattice top or crimping the sides. I typically sweat under the pressure to make it look perfect.

And then it is gone in a flash.

And I cry.

As I lack the patience and talent to ice a cake to perfection or decorate a pie to stun, I choose to make desserts that are relatively easy to make and can be elegantly decorated with minimal fuss.

Davidson’s Safest Choice Eggs™ requested a fall dessert to grace the Thanksgiving table, and I have to admit, my head was spinning. Should I do a cake, a pie, a cookie or a tart? Should it be a crêpe, a pudding, a crisp or a bar? Pumpkin? Cranberry? Apple or Pear? I had a severe case of ADD.

A few cake flops later and since I still had some purple sweet potatoes leftover from making purple sweet potato soup, I had a light bulb moment. I’ll make some purple sweet potato pudding.

It’s not as funky as you think. You’ve heard of Pumpkin Pudding? So, why not sweet potato pudding? And finally, why not PURPLE sweet potatoes.

The milk base is the same for most puddings. I tempered the eggs and stirred them into the hot milk. Spiced with cinnamon and cloves, my kitchen smelled like fall. I microwaved the sweet potato, peeled it and mashed it, and then added to the hot cream.

Because purple sweet potatoes are drier than their orange cousins, I added more milk. Then, I pulverized it all in the blender, for a smooth pudding.

And for my ultra-easy garnish, I topped it with spicy candied pecans and itty bitty marshmallows.

This dessert fills my requirement for a Thanksgiving dish: it’s simple, it’s fresh, it’s made with real ingredients and it has a creative twist.

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Yield: serves 8

Purple Sweet Potato Pudding

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Add an elegant yet easy dessert to your traditional Thanksgiving table with this creamy Purple Sweet Potato Pudding.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Additional Time 4 hours

Total Time 4 hours 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 lb purple sweet potatoes
• 3 cup milk
• ½ cup light brown sugar, packed plus 1 TBS
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 large eggs
• 1 TBS unsalted butter
• 2 oz chopped pecans
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
• ⅛ teaspoon red chile powder

Instructions

1. Wash and scrub clean sweet potatoes. Pierce with a fork and cook in the microwave until tender, about 4 minutes on high temperature.
2. Reserve potato until cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes.
3. In the meantime, in a small pot over medium heat whisk together milk, ½ cup brown sugar, vanilla, ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon and cloves.
4. Continue whisking the milk until just before the milk begins to boil. You do not want the milk to boil, as it will curd and produce a lumpy pudding.
5. Remove the pot from heat.
6. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs.
7. Whisk in with the eggs 1 tablespoon of the hot milk.
8. Whisk in with the eggs another 2 tablespoons of hot milk, one tablespoon at a time. This will keep the eggs from curdling.
9. Slowly whisk in the tempered eggs with the hot spiced milk in the pot.
10. Heat the pot over medium heat, whisking continuously until the cream mixture thickens, about 5-10 minutes.
11. Remove the pot from heat.
12. Peel and mash the cooked purple sweet potato in a small bowl. Mash in approximately ¼ cup of the hot cream with the potatoes to help soften the potatoes.
13. Using a hand mixer, whisk in the mashed sweet potatoes into the pot of hot cream until smooth.
14. Continue mixing over medium heat for 3 more minutes.
15. Using an immersion blender, blend the pudding until completely smooth. You can also use a stand blender, just let the pudding cool before pouring into the blender.
16. Once smooth, transfer pudding into serving cups or bowls, cover and chill until firm, about 4 hours.
17. For the candied pecans, heat a small nonstick skillet over medium heat and add pecans and butter.
18. Gently heat the pecans for 3 minutes, then add 1 TBS brown sugar.
19. Stir until brown sugar has melted and coated the pecans. Season the pecans with salt, ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon and chile powder.
20. Let the pecans cool and then top the pudding with them.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

8

Serving Size:

1 cup
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 176Total Fat: 10gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 58mgSodium: 154mgCarbohydrates: 17gFiber: 2gSugar: 5gProtein: 6g