Crustless Sweet Potato Pie- 10th Anniversary Edition

I know a lot of you have had variations of this but I found this recipe in a book in Mrs. Stegall's home ec. classroom when I was 14 years old (Yes, I took Home Ec and No, it wasn't required).

I have literally made it every year since then to rave reviews (and I DON'T just say so myself!). Call it my 10 Year Anniversary Sweet Potato Pie or just an alternative to the casserole with the marshmallows, there will be full, happy bellies for days after. For the record, I call it crustless pie because my friends who weren't from the South were scared of the word casserole.

Ingredients:

• 4 1/2 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
• Pinch of cinnamon (big)
  
• Pinch of nutmeg
  
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 cup chopped pecans or almonds
  

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. Prick your sweet potatoes and boil them until they are EASILY pierced with a fork (about 30-40 min). Remove them carefully to a plate and pull the skins off when they are cool to touch. Mash.
   
3. In a large bowl, mix together mashed sweet potatoes, 1/2 cup butter, milk, sugar, spices, vanilla extract, and eggs. Spread sweet potato mixture into the prepared baking dish. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar and flour. Cut in 1/3 cup butter until mixture is crumbly, then stir in pecans. Sprinkle pecan mixture over the sweet potatoes.
4. Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

*Tip: If you want to halve this recipe for a smaller group, it still works perfectly. Just don't halve the crumble topping- trust me:)

**Tip: To make this recipe gluten free, replace the standard AP flour with chestnut flour, reducing it to 1/3 cup in the sweet potato batter but keeping it to a half cup measure for the crumble. Delicious, nutty substitution.