Pumpkin

I did a search on epicurious the other day looking for pumpkin recipes. I found eight or nine that looked really appealing and emailed the list to several of my friends asking for their input. Ben replied immediately with a top three, and Chris and JB agreed that his choices were the most appealing to them too. The first on the list was a sweet potato pie rum pie with a gingersnap walnut crust. The reason it hit on my search for pumpkin was it called for pumpkin pie spice which I don't actually have, so I subbed 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/2 a teaspoon of nutmeg, and a 1/4 teaspoon of cloves. The pie was quite spicy but yummy all the same. I also baked it in a deep dish pie pan which was a mistake, the crust would have been much prettier in a regular pie pan, but I don't think it made any difference with the flavor.

Easy to make, yummy to eat:

sweet potato rum pie with walnut-gingersnap crust

Ingredients

For crust
1 cup gingersnap crumbs (from about 4 1/2 ounces gingersnap cookies ground in processor)
1/2 cup walnuts (about 2 1/4 ounces)
1 1/2 tablespoons (packed) dark brown sugar
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

For filling
1 1/4 cups (packed) well-drained canned yam pieces in light syrup (about 8 ounces)
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons whipping cream
1/2 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon dark rum
1 1/4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
Pinch of salt
8 walnut halves

Sweetened whipped cream (optional)

Preparation

Make crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Blend gingersnap crumbs, walnuts, sugar and salt in processor until walnuts are finely chopped. Add butter and process until mixture forms moist crumbs. Press crust onto bottom and up sides of 9-inch-diameter metal pie pan.

Make filling:

Purée yams in processor. Add 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons cream, brown sugar, egg and yolk, rum, pumpkin pie spice and salt; blend until smooth. Pour into crust. Smooth top. Place walnut halves around edges.

Bake until filling is set in center, about 40 minutes. Cool pie on rack. Chill until cold. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Keep refrigerated.) Pipe or spoon sweetened whipped cream on top of pie between walnuts, if desired.