For a little something different I made a sweet potato pie instead of a kabocha pumpkin one this year for Thanskgiving, and it was smooth, creamy, spicy, and carb-o-licious. That's what you need for a feast day, and we especially deserved it after spending Thanksgiving afternoon outside playing ground golf on top of a mountain with chilly gusts of wind and sprinklings of rain blowing us around!
Japanese sweet potatoes have flesh that is denser and drier than American sweet potatoes, so I had to add some extra soy milk to smooth it all out. Rather than trying to hold a hand mixer for this heavy filling, I threw it all in my heavy-duty blender and it worked out so well that way. My
crust was from Elana's Pantry with grapeseed oil instead of coconut, and the
pie filling recipe was from Paleo Grubs.
For the crust, you'll need:
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
- 1 large egg
Do this:
Pulse the almond flour and salt in your food processor just until mixed, than add in the oil and egg and process until it forms a big ball. Smoosh it into a 9-inch glass pie plate and bake at 350 F/170 C for about 8 minutes. Take it out and allow it to cool before filling and baking again.
For the pie filling, you'll need:
- 1 lb./450 g sweet potatoes, washed and with holes poked in the skin
- 1/3 cup soy milk or more as needed to thin out the dense Japanese sweet potatoes
- 1/4 cup grapeseed oil
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- a pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- sprinkles of cardamom, nutmeg, and allspice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
Do this:
Bake your sweet potatoes until soft and then scoop out the flesh, adding it to the blender with the rest of the ingredients. Blend till smooth, then pour into the pie crust and bake at 350 F/170 C for at least 40 minutes, or until the center is set. Cool, then slice and top with soy cream that you've whipped with a little bit of sugar and vanilla.
Make it at least a day ahead of your feast for a simpler time on the day itself.
Happy holidays!
