Sweet Potato Pie

Friendsgiving recipe roundup continues with this Sweet Potato pie. I hope you’re as pumped as I am.

This recipe was inspired by a recent trip I took a trip to Seattle where I had a pretty amazing slice of sweet potato pie with a praline topping. I knew immediately that I wanted to try to recreate it. Our Friendsgiving dinner seemed like the perfect place to test it out.

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As mentioned in my last post, I wanted to put a healthier spin on my desserts, but didn’t want to compromise on flavor…Not to toot my own horn, but this pie delivers on all fronts.

Both the filling and candied pecans get their sweetness from maple syrup, not refined sugar, and the addition of coconut milk makes the filling oh so creamy. It has just the right amount of sweet for it to render as a dessert, but it’s not going to make you feel like you’ve just given yourself five cavities…looking at you pecan pie.

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I hope you find a place for this pie on your Thanksgiving table this year!

Sweet Potato Pie

YIELD: 2 Pies (12-14 Servings)

PREP TIME: 5-10 Minutes

COOK TIME: 40 Minutes

TOTAL TIME: 2-3 Hours (includes baking sweet potatoes and chilling pie crusts if making your own)

INGREDIENTS

Make your favorite basic pie crust

  • 1-2 store bought pie crust or your favorite homemade pie crust
    • I actually only used one crust for this recipe and kept the second pie crust-less for my Gluten Free guests and everyone loved it.

Pie Filling:

  • 3 lbs baked sweet potatoes
  • 1/4 cup real maple syrup
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup coconut milk
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 Teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/8 Teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Candied Pecans:

  • 20 oz of halved pecans (I used two 10 oz bags)
  • Maple syrup (confession: I didn’t measure this, just made sure the pecans were completely coated)
  • 2 Teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Pinch of sea salt

Egg Wash:

  • 1 Egg
  • 1 Tablespoon water

DIRECTIONS

  1. Bake the sweet potatoes at 425ºF for 45 minutes or until soft. Once cool to touch, remove the skins and place potatoes in a large bowl and add all other ingredients. Mix until smooth using a hand or stand mixer, then place mixture in the refrigerator
  2. Make pie crust(s) according to direction. Once fully chilled, rolled out, and place in a pie dish, score (aka poke) the dough all over using a fork and blind bake for 15-20 minutes or until the dough is very lightly golden brown.
    • Scoring =  A way of allowing steam to escape during baking
  3. As your pie crust(s) is blind baking, add halved pecans to a saucepan and toast lightly over low heat for 1-2 minutes. Then add enough maple syrup to coat all pecans – as previously mentioned, I eyeballed this. Stir for an additional 3-4 minutes, then add vanilla and salt. Give it one last stir and turn off the heat.
  4. We’re now ready to fully assemble our pies!
  5. Pull your pie filling out of the fridge and evenly divide mixture between your two pie dishes. Spoon your candied pecans over the pie filling until both pies are fully covered
  6. Before baking, make your egg wash by whisking together your egg and water and brush the edges of your pie crust with the mixture
    • This adds a nice shine to the pie crust
  7. Bake for 20 minutes or until the edges of the pie crust are golden brown
  8. Serve at room temperature with whipped cream (optional)

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Pumpkin Mousse

The Holidays are officially upon us, and I for one am pumped. We kicked off the season with our annual Friendsgiving this past weekend. It was filled with some of my favorite people, LOTS and LOTS of food, and plenty of wine to go around.

I’ll be sharing some of my favorite recipes from the night over the next week or so in preparations for Thanksgiving. Starting with this pumpkin mousse.

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So, some fun facts about me. I have a massive sweet tooth, but also am pretty health conscious and try to really limit the amount of sugar in my diet.

Normally if I’m going to eat a dessert, I’m going to eat a dessert with all the butter and sugar and goodness it has to offer, but entering the holiday season I know we’re going to be a bit overindulgent more frequently than usual so when I was making the menu for Friendsgiving, I tried to take a healthier approach to dessert.

This pumpkin mousse gets it sweetness from maple syrup, not refined sugar, and is…wait for it….vegan (gasp!)

This lightened up dessert still packs a punch on flavor from the homemade pumpkin butter, but could also totally be eaten for breakfast in good conscience.

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Pumpkin Mousse

YIELD: 8-9 Servings

PREP TIME: 5-10 Minutes

COOK TIME: 20 Minutes

TOTAL TIME: 2-3.5 Hours (includes chilling)

INGREDIENTS

Pumpkin Butter:

  • 1 Can (15 ounce) pumpkin puree
  • 1/4 cup real maple syrup, plus more if needed to sweeten
  • 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/4 Teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Mouse:

  • 1 1/2 Cups pumpkin butter
  • 3 1/4 Cups almond milk
  • 8 Tablespoons chia seeds

DIRECTIONS

To Make the Pumpkin Butter:

  1. In a medium sauce pan, combine all ingredients and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce heat slightly and cook, stirring frequently until the mixture thickens a bit, but is still spreadable (about 20 minutes).
  2. Taste, add more maple syrup if you desire a sweeter pumpkin butter
  3. Set aside to cool, while you gather your other ingredients for the mousse*
    • If making in advance, transfer to a glass jar(s) and store in the refrigerator for up to a month

To Make the Pumpkin Mousse:

  1. In a large bowl, whisk to combine pumpkin butter, almond milk, and chia seeds. Refrigerate until thick and pudding-like, about 2 to 3 hours or overnight if you’re making the day before
  2. Next pour the mixture into a high-speed blender (I used a Vitamix) and blend until a smooth mousse like texture is achieved
  3. Transfer to individual serving bowls and chill in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve
  4. Optional: Top with homemade whipped cream (or coconut cream to keep it vegan) and pepita seeds