Mom-Mom's White Potato Pie — The Recipe Bernice Never Had to Write Down

I turned fifty-one on Christmas Day, 2020. CJ and Shanice came. Destiny and Travis came. James drove from Montgomery. The house was full in a year when fullness has been rare and precious, and we gathered with masks set aside in the Forestdale house, family, tested and careful, because the people at this table needed to be at this table and there is a limit to what the pandemic gets to take and the Simms Christmas is past that limit.

Bernice's place at the table had the sweet tea. Marcus's candle was burning. Calvin said grace and he named both of them—Bernice and Marcus, mother and grandson, the two who are gone and the eleven who are here—and his voice held, this voice that has been holding for three years now, and I said amen.

Shanice helped me in the kitchen. This was unrequested—she appeared at my elbow while I was finishing the collard greens and said "What can I do" in the same words Travis had said at the first Thanksgiving, which means CJ told her and she listened and she remembered, which is everything. I gave her the cornbread and she made it from the recipe I'd written out for her—my first written recipe in thirty years, written for Shanice because she asked and because writing it down for a daughter-to-be is different from writing it for the general public, it is a specific gift—and she made it right. The cornbread was right. The cast iron was right. The house smelled like Christmas.

First Christmas without Bernice: hard. Harder than I expected and I had expected it to be very hard. I went to the kitchen at ten PM, after everyone had gone to bed or gone home, and I stood in the kitchen alone and I talked to Mama. I told her about Shanice and Travis and the cornbread and the sweet tea at her place and the way the house smelled. I told her she had done it right. She had made me exactly who I needed to be for this family and this kitchen and this life. I told her thank you. The kitchen was quiet. The stove was off. But I could feel her in it. She was there. She is always there. She is the kitchen.

The cornbread was Shanice’s to learn, but this pie—this is the one I keep thinking about writing down next, the one Bernice never needed paper for because her hands already knew it. Mom-Mom’s White Potato Pie is everything that Christmas table was: simple, Southern, and so deeply itself that you don’t have to explain it to anyone who was raised right. I’m writing it here now, for Shanice and Destiny and whoever comes next, because that’s what Mama taught me to do with the things that matter — you pass them on before they can be lost.

Mom-Mom’s White Potato Pie

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 55 min | Total Time: 1 hr 15 min | Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell
• 2 cups mashed cooked white potatoes (about 3 medium potatoes)
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Heat the oven. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Set the unbaked pie shell in a 9-inch pie dish and crimp the edges if needed.
2. Cook and mash the potatoes. Peel and cube the white potatoes, then boil in salted water until fork-tender, about 15 minutes. Drain well and mash until completely smooth with no lumps — lumps will show in the finished pie.
3. Cream butter and sugar. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 2–3 minutes by hand or with a mixer.
4. Add eggs and potatoes. Mix in the beaten eggs, then add the warm mashed potatoes and stir until fully combined and smooth.
5. Add the milk and seasonings. Stir in the milk, vanilla extract, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt. Mix until the filling is silky and uniform.
6. Fill and bake. Pour the filling into the prepared pie shell, smoothing the top with a spatula. Bake at 350°F for 50–55 minutes, until the center is just set and the top is lightly golden. A knife inserted near the center should come out clean.
7. Cool before slicing. Let the pie cool on a wire rack for at least 1 hour before cutting. It slices cleaner when fully cooled and the flavor deepens as it rests.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 340 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 16g | Carbs: 46g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 210mg