Your Sweet Potato Pie Is Seriously Missing Some Cream Cheese

As summer comes to a close, we're thinking about all the beloved recipes synonymous with the fall season. Next to apple cider and pumpkin muffins with maple icing, sweet potato pie is considered a seasonal mainstay in many American homes. While the first semblance of this historical dish has roots tracing all the way back to Peru, Europe, and eventually the African-American community in the Southern U.S., this traditional dessert can now be made in more ways than one in the 21st century. If you're looking for ways to enhance the standard mixture of boiled and mashed sweet potatoes, butter, eggs, brown sugar, and select warming spices, instead of the suggested addition of heavy cream, you may want to consider adding a healthy amount of cream cheese to your next sweet potato pie. 

Oftentimes, choosing just one dessert for a special occasion is hard enough. But with sweet potato cream cheese pie, you get to enjoy the best of both worlds by incorporating the essence of cheesecake into this iconic autumnal dish. If you're wondering why you need to make a change to an already delicious dessert, the lactic acid bacteria in cream cheese offsets the sweetness of those beloved sweet potatoes with a nuanced level of tanginess. 

Now that you know the benefits of this one-of-a-kind dish, how do you incorporate cream cheese into your favorite sweet potato dessert?

Even though you may have been enjoying sweet potato pie since you were a kid, adding in cream cheese gives this traditional dessert a delightful upgrade. To change up your classic recipe, all you need to do is place an 8-ounce block of cream cheese on the counter an hour before you plan on making your sweet potato pie or use your microwave for a quicker thaw time.

When it's time to mix the filling ingredients, you'll first use a hand mixer to whip the softened cream cheese and then work to incorporate the cooked sweet potato, along with the sugars, eggs, and various spices. From here, pour your dairy-tinged pie filling into your chosen crust and bake as directed. You can always use your go-to quick and flaky pie crust recipe. However, if you want to keep things interesting, opt for a store-bought graham cracker crust, or make one homemade with just crushed graham crackers, butter, and sugar. 

Even though upgrading your sweet potato pie filling seems fairly simple, there are a few additional ways you can elevate your traditional root veggie dessert with this tangy cream cheese inclusion.

For those who are up for altering tradition, there are a few more ways you can use baked sweet potatoes and cream cheese to make a delicious autumnal centerpiece. If you want your sweet potato pie to mirror more of a cheesecake, instead of swapping out evaporated milk or heavy cream for cream cheese, you may want to use more than one dairy product to create an ultra-rich dessert. Instead of using a combination of white and brown sugars, an 8-ounce block of cream cheese combined with a 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk may be all you need to create a perfectly sweet and creamy sweet potato pie.

When you're in need of a more visually appealing treat, why not make a layered sweet potato pie? Follow your traditional sweet potato pie recipe and make a separate cream cheese layer with cream cheese, sugar, egg, and any additional flavorings. When it's time to bake, add the cream cheese layer to your prepared crust followed by your classically made sweet potato layer and bake. Your dessert should have two tasty yet distinct layers when sliced. 

While there are a few fun exceptions worth trying, when you want a simple way to upgrade classic sweet potato pie, all you need is a standard block of cream cheese to see how this tangy addition breathes new and improved flavor into a traditional classic.