Sweet Potato Sonker Recipe

Name: Sweet Potato Sonker Is the Southern Dessert You Need to Make
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 85 min
Total time: 135 min
Yield: 15
Ingredients: 3 pounds (about 6 medium) slender garnet sweet potatoes, peeled; 2 boxes refrigerated pie crusts, such as Pillsbury (4 pie crusts total); 3/4 cup (90g) all-purpose flour, divided, plus more for rolling out the dough; 2 cups (400g) granulated sugar, divided; 1/2 cup molasses or sorghum syrup; 1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted; 1 3/4 teaspoons kosher salt, divided; 1/2 teaspoon ground or grated nutmeg; 3 cups whole milk; 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Sweet potato sonker in a baking dish with a piece being served — Simply Recipes / Jessica Furniss

Sweet potato sonker is a traditional North Carolina dessert featuring tender pie crust and syrupy, gooey filling.
This recipe features a classic lattice top and a distinctive “milk dip” sauce that’s poured on top and served alongside.
Garnet sweet potatoes bring natural sweetness and vibrant color to every slice.

My home state of North Carolina is the sweet potato capital of the United States. In fact, it’s the state vegetable. I didn’t know that little trivia night factoid growing up, but sweet potatoes were on the table almost every Sunday, so I associated them with home.

My maternal grandmother is from Surry County, NC, which happens to be the homeplace of a dessert called the sonker. You often see fruity sonkers filled with berries or apples, but every once in a while you’ll run into sweet potato sonker.

Plate with a serving of sweet potato sonker topped with a sauce accompanied by a fork — Simply Recipes / Jessica Furniss

What Is a Sonker?

There’s no standard recipe for sonker. It can be made with a biscuit topping, a cakey topping, or pie dough. What ties all sonker recipes together? In my opinion, it’s geographic location—what would pass for cobbler anywhere else is called sonker in Surry County—and the presence of copious amounts of juice or syrup. Every sonker I’ve had oozes sweetened fruit juices, which makes them a little messier than your standard pie.

Sweet potato sonker has a few defining features: It is most often made with pie dough, complete with a lattice top; it uses cooked and sliced sweet potatoes for the filling; and it is often served with “milk dip,” a sweet, white, pudding-like sauce. Some of the milk dip is poured over the sonker partway through baking, then the finished sonker is served with extra milk dip.

Dessert dish with lattice crust and two small bowls of sauce on a table — Simply Recipes / Jessica Furniss

The Process, In a Nutshell

The following recipe looks long, but the process is fairly straightforward. You’ll line a baking dish with pie crust, fill the crust with sliced boiled sweet potatoes and a sugar-molasses mixture, and top the whole thing with a lattice crust (dig deep and remember how to make a basket weave pattern from those preschool arts and crafts days).

After baking for a while, you’ll pour “milk dip” (a loose vanilla pudding) over the sonker and bake it a little longer. Then, you’ll serve the baked sonker with any remaining milk dip. To shorten the process, you can boil the sweet potatoes up to three days in advance.

Tips for Making Sweet Potato Sonker

Choose slender spuds: Use slender sweet potatoes so they cook through evenly and at the same rate. Garnet sweet potatoes, which have distinctive dark orange-red skins, are a great choice here, as they’re usually long and skinny and also moist and flavorful for baking.
Simmer, don’t boil: Don’t boil the sweet potatoes or they’ll fall apart. Adjust the heat to maintain a slow bubble.
Sorghum or molasses: This recipe calls for molasses because it’s easier to find, but if you live in the South you may be able to find sorghum, a molasses-like syrup made from sorghum cane. It is less bitter than molasses and can have a very light smokiness.
It’s juicy: The sweet potatoes will be almost submerged in sticky juices when you put the sonker in the oven. This is normal. Remember: you want lots of juice in a sonker!
Milk dip consistency: The milk dip thickens as it cools. To reheat it before serving, add a splash of milk and cook over medium heat, whisking, to restore its silky texture.

Sweet Potato Sonker

Prep Time 30 mins

Cook Time 85 mins

Cooling Time: 20 mins

Total Time 2 hrs 15 mins

Servings 12 to 15 servings

Garnet sweet potatoes, sometimes also called “red yams,” are a great choice for this recipe. Look for their dark red-orange skins and long, skinny shape—the smaller slices will cook more evenly in the sonker. Make sure to use a glass baking dish (like a classic Pyrex) for this recipe—a ceramic dish will require a longer baking time and the dessert may turn out too liquidy.

Keep Screen Awake

3 pounds (about 6 medium) slender garnet sweet potatoes, peeled
2 boxes refrigerated pie crusts, such as Pillsbury (4 pie crusts total)
3/4 cup (90g) all-purpose flour, divided, plus more for rolling out the dough
2 cups (400g) granulated sugar, divided
1/2 cup molasses or sorghum syrup
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted
1 3/4 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon ground or grated nutmeg
3 cups whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Cook the sweet potatoes:

Place the peeled sweet potatoes in a large pot and add cool water to cover. Place over medium-high heat, cover, and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the sweet potatoes are tender (use the tip of a knife to test for doneness—it should easily slide through), 15 to 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, shape the bottom crust:

Remove two of the pie crusts from the refrigerator and let them stand at room temperature until pliable, 5 to 10 minutes (keep the remaining pie crusts refrigerated).

On a lightly floured countertop, unroll the pie crusts and lay them so they overlap by 4 inches. Use a rolling pin to press the overlapped dough together and gently roll out the crusts so they will cover the bottom and sides of a 9x13-inch glass baking dish.

Lift the dough gently and place it inside the baking dish, pressing it into the corners and up the sides. Refrigerate, uncovered, while you slice the potatoes and make the syrup.

Simply Recipes / Jessica Furniss
Slice the potatoes:

When the sweet potatoes are tender, use tongs to transfer them to a cutting board to cool slightly. Save 1 1/2 cups of the potato cooking water and set it aside.

When the sweet potatoes are cool enough to handle, after 5 to 10 minutes, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices.
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Mix together the syrup:

Remove the remaining two pie crusts from the refrigerator and let stand until pliable, 5 to 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 cups of the sugar, the molasses, melted butter, 1/2 cup of the flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the salt, and the nutmeg. Whisk in the reserved sweet potato cooking water.
Cut the lattice strips:

Unroll the remaining pie crusts on a lightly floured work surface, smoothing out any creases with your rolling pin. Cut the crusts into 1-inch-wide strips.
Assemble the sonker:

Take the chilled crust in the baking dish out of the refrigerator. Layer the sliced sweet potatoes inside the crust, then pour the syrup over them. Weave the lattice strips, basket weave-style, on top of the sonker. For the strips running lengthwise, you will need to piece two shorter strips together, pressing them to help them adhere to one another. The lattice doesn’t need to look perfect! This is a rustic dessert.

Once the lattice is in place, fold the edges of the bottom crust over the lattice strips by 1/2-inch or so and press to secure the edge and strips together.

Simply Recipes / Jessica Furniss

Simply Recipes / Jessica Furniss

Simply Recipes / Jessica Furniss
Bake:

Bake the sonker until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling, about 50 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the milk dip:

While the sonker is in the oven, in a medium saucepan, whisk together the remaining 1/4 cup flour and a splash of the milk until smooth. Whisk in the remaining milk, the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Place the saucepan over medium heat and cook, whisking frequently, until it comes to a boil. Cook, whisking constantly, for 1 to 2 minutes or until the sauce is thickened to the consistency of a loose pudding. Take off the heat and whisk in the vanilla.
Add the milk dip:

After 50 minutes of baking, remove the sonker from the oven and pour 1 cup of the milk dip over the top. Return the sonker to the oven and continue to bake until the milk dip is just starting to brown in spots, about 15 minutes.
Cool and serve:

Remove the sonker from the oven and cool on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes before serving. Serve the sonker warm or at room temperature with the remaining milk dip on the side. You will need to reheat the milk dip over medium-low heat right before serving, adding a splash or two of milk if it has thickened too much to pour.

Refrigerate leftovers, tightly covered, for up to 5 days. Reheat the sonker in a 350°F oven until heated through, tenting it with foil if it is browning too much.

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Simply Recipes / Jessica Furniss

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
586	Calories
23g	Fat
90g	Carbs
7g	Protein

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 12 to 15
Amount per serving
Calories	586
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 23g	29%
Saturated Fat 10g	48%
Cholesterol 21mg	7%
Sodium 446mg	19%
Total Carbohydrate 90g	33%
Dietary Fiber 5g	17%
Total Sugars 46g
Protein 7g
Vitamin C 18mg	89%
Calcium 127mg	10%
Iron 3mg	16%
Potassium 728mg	15%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.