Grandma's Sweet Potato Pecan Pie

sweet potato pecan pie sliced through to show the both layers of the filling

Grandma's Sweet Potato Pecan Pie

Grandma’s Sweet Potato Pecan Pie is made up of a sweet caramel pecan pie layer over a creamy sweet potato pie base. It’s 2 pies in one! This southern dessert is a MUST HAVE for the holidays!

Course Dessert

Cuisine Holidays, Vegan

Keyword Sweet Potato Pecan Pie

Prep Time 45

Cook Time 30

Total Time 1 15

Servings slices

Calories 279kcal

Author Gina Marie

Ingredients

Sweet Potato Filling

2 cups water for boiling water
1 large sweet potato (2 medium sweet potatoes) Should yield app 2 cups chopped - see notes
¼ cup organic cane sugar see notes
2 tablespoons corn starch see notes
¼ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoon soften/melted vegan butter see notes
1 tablespoon apple sauce
3 tablespoons coconut cream (3 tablespoons equal one small 5.4-ounce can) NOT COCONUT MILK - see notes
1 teaspoon squeeze orange or squeeze lemon
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Pecan Filling

3 tablespoons ground flaxseed
7 tablespoons water
3 tablespoon corn starch
¼ cup organic brown sugar see notes
⅓ cup rice syrup see notes
2 tablespoon dark corn syrup see notes
4 tablespoon melted vegan butter see notes
3 tablespoons apple sauce

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

If using a pre brought crust, thaw out before use. If you have a pie crust recipe to use, prepare that before you prepare the filling.
Mix your 3 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds with 7 tablespoons of water to make flaxseed eggs and set aside. Preheat oven to 350°F (200°C) degrees.

Sweet Potato Filling

Pour water in a pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Rinse, peel, and chop your sweet potatoes. Add chopped sweet potatoes to boiling water and boil for about 15 or until "fork tender" (meaning they are soft and a fork can pierce through them). Once potatoes are done, drain in a colander and add to a large mixing bowl.
Add organic cane sugar, cornstarch, sea salt, cinnamon powder, soften/melted vegan butter, applesauce, coconut cream, lemon juice, and vanilla extract to the bowl. Beat with your electric mixer until fully combined. If you don't have a hand mixer, add this to your food processor and blend. Or you mash with a potato masher then take a whisk and whip well until ingredients are fully combined. Taste and adjust flavors to your liking.
Add your sweet potato filling to your pie crust and bake for 20 minutes to set the filling. While sweet potato pie base is baking, rinse out the large mixing bowl used to assemble your sweet pie filling to now use for your pecan pie filling.

Pecan Pie Filling

In a large mixing bowl, add corn starch, organic brown sugar, rice syrup, corn syrup, apple sauce, melted vegan butter, and flaxseed eggs. Use your electric mixer to whip filling. If you don't have a hand mixer, add this to your food processor or high-speed blender and blend. Taste and adjust sweetness to your liking. (Should be sweet enough but you can add more sugar if you desire).
If you desire you can crumble up some pecans and fold it into your syrup mixture or you can save that part of for last and place it on top of the pie. Your choice.
Remove your sweet potato pie from the oven (leave the oven on) after 20 minutes of baking is done. The sweet potato pie base should be set. Pour pecan filling on top of set sweet potato filling. Top it off with some pecans arranging them to your liking.
Put the pie back in the oven on the bottom for an additional 20 to 25 minutes until it bubbles and turns brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool at room temperature for at least 2 hours to set before serving or storage.
Leftovers will keep lightly covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator for 4 days. This pie will last 1 month in the freezer. Please read blog post under Substitution, Cook, & Storage Tips: on how to properly store your pie in the freezer.

Video

Notes

SWEET POTATOES: If you don't like sweet potatoes use pumpkin or butternut squash instead. If you want to step outside the box, dare to try this recipe with Japanese White Sweet Potatoes! Garnet Sweet Potatoes would be good with this as well.
ORGANIC SUGAR: I use organic sugar to ensure it's vegan (meaning it's not filtered through bone char). Use whatever sugar you have on hand and that is available to you.
COCONUT CREAM: Coconut cream is typically found in the ethnic/Asain cooking aisle of your grocery store in a small 5.4 ounce can. (You can order some on Amazon HERE.) If you cannot find coconut cream, buy canned coconut milk and place it in the refrigerator for an hour. Then open your can of coconut milk and scrape off 3 tablespoons of the coconut cream that settles at the top. DO NOT mix the liquid with the cream. We need CREAM for this recipe, not the milk.
EGG SUBSTITUTES: DO NOT skip the cornstarch or flaxseed egg in this recipe. I cannot guarantee how it will turn out if you omit those ingredients or even substitute for some other flour/starch. (I don't know how it will hold with regular flour or tapioca starch or arrowroot flour, etc. Try those at your own risk but I don't recommend it.)
VEGAN BUTTER: I prefer to use the vegan butter in the sticks as they are made for baking. But the spread works well too. Use whatever you have on hand or what's available in your area. You can substitute the vegan butter for coconut oil.
SYRUPS: Both rice syrup and corn syrup are thick which is why they work for this recipe. The only other syrup I could see working with this recipe is coconut nectar because it's thick. I CANNOT guarantee how it will turn out with any other syrup. Also, you can use just one syrup if you don't want to use both. As with ALL ingredients that have been substituted and omitted, USE THE SAME AMOUNTS AS DESCRIBED IN THE RECIPE. For instance, if you omit corn syrup, use ⅓ cup of rice syrup PLUS 2 additional tablespoons of rice syrup or 2 tablespoons of coconut nectar.
ADDITIONS & SUBSTITUTIONS: If you don’t like pecans, use walnuts instead. You can also mix chopped walnuts or pecans in your pecan filling if you desire.

Nutrition