Sweet Potato-Pecan Pie

Recipe by: Straight Up Food

This delicious pie is similar to pumpkin pie but it is made with sweet potatoes (or yams) instead of pumpkin. The filling is sweetened with dates, thickened with a little oat flour, and the Pecan-Date Crust is just like a sweet, crumbly cookie!

PECAN-DATE PIE CRUST

Prep time:  25 minsCook time:  10 minsTotal time:  35 mins

Serves: Makes one 8-inch pie crust 

INGREDIENTS

• 1¼ cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 2½ ounces raw, unsalted pecans (about ½ cup)
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 2½ ounces pitted dates (4 to 5 Medjool or 8 to 10 Deglet Noor), chopped
• 1½ tablespoons unsweetened nondairy milk

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Place the oats, pecans, and cinnamon in a food processor, and process until the texture resembles coarse flour.
2. Add the dates, and process for about 1 minute, or until the mixture just begins to clump together. Add the milk and process until the mixture starts to ball up into dough (this will happen quickly).
3. Form the dough into one big ball and place it on a large piece of parchment paper on top of a cutting board or other flat surface. Press the ball flat with your hands and then place another large piece of parchment paper over the top.
4. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Set aside an 8-inch pie pan.
5. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough into a circle that is about ⅛ inch thick. The circle should be slightly larger than the upper edge o the pie pan. (If your circle is irregularly shaped, just cut a piece of dough from another area and press it in.)
6. Peel off the top piece of parchment paper and carefully invert the rolled-out crust onto the pie pan. Peel away the remaining piece of parchment paper. Gently ease the crust into the contours of the pan and lightly press into place.
7. Trim away any hanging crust (don’t wrap the crust over the edge of the pan since this will make it harder to cut after it’s baked). You do not need to poke the crust with a knife.
8. Place a piece of aluminum foil over the entire crust, loosely tucking under the corners. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, or until the edges are very lightly browned.

NUTRITION INFORMATION: Serving size: ⅛ recipe (1 slice, without filling) Calories: 134 Fat: 7.4g Saturated fat: 0.7g Carbohydrates: 16.5g Sugar: 6.6g Sodium: 0.5mg Fiber: 2.8gProtein: 2.6g Cholesterol: 0

Above: Here is the pie made with a jewel yam, so it has a darker color and looks more like pumpkin pie. The photo at the top of this page is made with a yellow sweet potato, so it’s not as dark in color.

SWEET POTATO-PECAN PIE FILLING

Prep time:  30 mins Cook time:  30 mins Total time:  1 hour

Serves: 6 to 8 (makes one 8-inch pie) 

INGREDIENTS

• ¼ to ½ cup old-fashioned rolled oats (1/2 cup will result in a firmer filling)
• ¾ cup unsweetened nondairy milk
• 4 ounces pitted dates (7 to 8 Medjool or 14 to 16 Deglet Noor), chopped
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or seeds from 1 vanilla bean)
• 1½ cups (packed) baked sweet potato (about 1 pound before cooking; see Notes)
• 1¼ teaspoons cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
• ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 prebaked Pecan-Date Pie Crust
• 15 to 20 raw, unsalted pecan halves to decorate the outside edge, plus ¼ cup chopped pecans for the center of the pie

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Grind the rolled oats into flour with a blender and then transfer to a small bowl.
2. Place the nondairy milk, dates, and vanilla into the blender, and set aside for at least 15 minutes (so the dates can soften).
3. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Set aside your prebaked pie crust.
4. Add the baked sweet potato to the blender with the milk, dates and vanilla, and blend until smooth.
5. Add the oat flour, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves to the blender mixture, and blend until smooth, scraping down the sides a couple times. (This will be thick, so use your blender’s tamper if it has one, or you can also use a food processor.)
6. Pour the pie filling into the prebaked pie crust and smooth out evenly. Arrange the pecan halves around the outside of the pie and the chopped pecans in the middle.
7. Wrap a few 3-inch-wide strips of aluminum foil around the edge of the pie crust (keeping the edges of the foil from touching the filling) to prevent the crust from overbrowning.
8. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the crust is a medium brown. Remove the pie from the oven and remove the foil strips. Cool completely before slicing.

NOTES

To bake the sweet potato, place the unpeeled potato on a baking sheet, and bake at 400°F for 60 to 70 minutes, or until very soft when pierced with a knife.

To make this a pumpkin pie, substitute 1 can (15 ounces) 100% cooked pumpkin (not “pumpkin pie mix”) or 1½ cups (packed) baked pumpkin.

To make this a yam pie, substitute 1½ cups (packed) baked yams. Yam pie will be darker in color than sweet potato pie.

NUTRITION INFORMATION: Serving size: ⅛ recipe (1 slice, without crust) Calories: 154 Fat: 5.4g Saturated fat: 0.5g Carbohydrates: 25.4g Sugar: 13.4g Sodium: 20mg Fiber: 3.9gProtein: 3.2g Cholesterol: 0

Above: Place the dough on a piece of parchment paper or on a flexible, plastic chopping mat.

Above: Place a piece of parchment paper on top of the dough, and roll it out into a circle using a rolling pin, to about 1/8-inch thick.

Above: Use the pie pan as a guide in cutting the crust. Leave a little extra as shown.

Above: Flip the pie pan, the crust and the parchment paper (or mat) over, and peel away the top parchment paper (or the cutting mat, which I used here; I’m using a spatula on the underside to loosen the crust from the mat).

Above: The crust should now be laying on top of the pie pan.

Above: Gently ease the crust into the contours of the pie pan.

Above: Trim off any extra, overhanging crust, being careful not to secure the crust under the pan lip (this will make cutting it later a challenge.)

Above: Cover the uncooked crust with foil and loosely curl the edges under. Bake for 10 minutes.

Above: After the crust has baked and cooled for at least 10 minutes, spread the filling evenly inside the crust (I’ve used an orange jewel yam for my filling in this photo).

Above: Place some pecans around the outter edge (or make whatever design you like).

Above: Add the chopped pecans to the center. Place a few aluminum foil strips around the edges to keep the crust from over-browning; secure them underneath first…

Above: …then on top, being careful not to let the foil dip into the filling. Bake for 30 minutes.