Sweet Potato Pecan Crumble Pie

Buttery, flaky pie dough, a smooth sweet potato filling that tastes almost like a pumpkin pie, topped with a brown sugar pecan crumble, this Sweet Potato Pecan Crumble Pie is perfect for Thanksgiving!

How to make flaky pie dough?

Personally I LOVE a flaky pie dough if I’m going through the effort of making it myself, so this recipe is extra flaky, think almost puff pastry kinda vibes. The key is to use cold butter, a cold bowl, ice water when making the dough and then a couple rounds of folds to create those flaky layers.

What is the best pie pan?

I know they aren’t always the prettiest but a classic metal pie pan always works the best! The heat transfers quickly to the crust helping to get a flaky, well baked, crust that doesn’t shrink back. I like this one!

What type of sweet potato should you use for sweet potato pie?

I’ve only tested this pie with classic orange sweet potatoes which is what I would recommend! Other sweet potatoes may not provide enough flavor for the pie.

Can I make this pie in advance?

Yes! The pie dough can be made up to a week in advance, store it wrapped up tight in the fridge once it’s made. Or you can shape it in the pie pan, and keep it wrapped up in the freezer until you’re ready to bake! Once the full pie has been baked, it can be stored in the fridge for a day or two!

Additional Recipes to try:

• Maple Sea Salt Latte Custard Tart
• Honeynut Custard Tart
• Chocolate Cream Pie

Tips for making a Sweet Potato Pie

• If you don’t have time you can use a store bought pie crust but I really recommend making it yourself! This recipe is super simple, just takes a little bit of time.
• Keep everything COLD when making the pie dough, you don’t want the butter to melt into dough.
• It’s ok if the dough looks rough and scraggly in the beginning. The folding, rolling, and chilling process will smooth out and hydrate the dough so don’t be tempted to add more water.
• You can make this pie without a blender but I highly recommend blending the filling
• I 100% recommend using a metal pie pan – it’ll make the best flaky pie dough and keep the crust from shrinking back. I recommend this one!
• Don’t rush the chilling times for the dough! It’s important not only for chilling the butter but for hydrating the dough and letting it become more pliable.
• Whether you cook the sweet potatoes in the oven or the microwave, be sure to cook until fully soft throughout.
• Don’t underbake the crust when parbaking it, it should be a pale golden brown before you take it out and pour the filling in.
• Allow the pie to chill completely before slicing.

Ingredients

• All Purpose Flour: I recommend King Arthur Baking All Purpose flour for the crust and the crumble!
• Sugar: White and dark brown sugar are used for this pie in the crust, the filling, and the crumble.
• Fine Sea Salt: A little fine sea salt enhances the flavors and balances out the sweetness of all three elements.
• Butter: High fat, salted butter is best for this pie crust and crumble but unsalted works too!
• Ice Water: Really cold water is best for this crust, ideally ice water.
• Sweet Potatoes: Standard orange sweet potatoes are best for the filling of this pie! I think pumpkin puree would work too but I haven’t tested it.
• Egg: I use large eggs for the filling.
• Vanilla: A little vanilla extract is like seasoning in the filling and the crumble.
• Heavy Cream: Heavy cream smooths out the filling and helps it set.
• Pumpkin Pie Spice: I like the ease of buying already mixed pumpkin pie spice but you can make your own as well!
• Pecans: Raw unsalted pecans are used for the crumble topping. Don’t use toasted or roasted pecans because they will burn during baking.

How to make a Sweet Potato Pecan Crumble Pie

Pie Dough

• Add ice into a cup of water and set aside.
• In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and sugar with a fork.
• Thinly slice the cold butter, dropping it into the dry ingredients as you do. The slices should be between 1/8th and 1/4 of an inch thick.
• I like to use a pairing knife and cut directly off a big Kerrygold block but you can also pre slice the butter on a cutting board if you prefer. Just make sure the butter stays cold.
• Smush each slice of butter between your fingers into the dry ingredients to flatten them out and start working in the flour mixture.
• Drizzle the ice water onto the surface of everything in the bowl.
• Use a fork to mix and slightly smush the water into the mixture until it looks shaggy. It’s ok if it still looks a little dry but there shouldn’t be large amounts of completely dry flour left. Don’t be tempted to add more water.
• Pour the mixture onto a sheet of plastic wrap and use the sides of the plastic wrap to smush the dough into a square that’s between 1/2″ and 1″ thick.
• Place the dough in the fridge to chill for 45 minutes.
• After 45 minutes, dust your work surface with flour. Take the pie dough out of the fridge and roll the dough out in a rectangle that is about 1/4″ thick. Use flour and a bench scraper as needed to keep the dough moving and keep it from sticking.
• Letter fold the dough so fold the top third over the middle third, and then the bottom third over the other two thirds.
• Rotate the dough 90 degrees and roll the dough back out to 1/4″ thick. Repeat the letter folds, it should be a skinny long rectangle so when you fold it you will have a square.
• Rewrap the dough and chill for another 45 minutes.
• After the 45 minutes have passed repeat the above steps of rolling and folding the dough twice. Rewrap the dough and chill for another 45 minutes. At this point you can chill it for as long as you need until you’re ready to use it.
• If chilling for more than 6 hours, place it in a ziptop bag to make sure it doesn’t dry out.

Pecan Brown Sugar Crumble

• Roughly chop the pecans.
• In a small mixing bowl, mix together soft butter, brown sugar, salt, and vanilla with a fork. Then add in the flour and mix again until no flour is still visible.
• Lastly stir in the chopped pecans and set aside.

Sweet Potato filling

• Prick the sweet potatoes with a fork and either microwave or bake until soft. I usually microwave them in 3 minute increments on a plate, flipping in between every three minutes.
• Cook until completely soft.
• All them to cool until you can handle them. Scoop out 450 grams of soft sweet potato into a large blender.
• Add in both sugars, salt, vanilla, heavy cream, eggs, and pumpkin pie spice.
• Blend until smooth.

Par-bake the pie crust

• Once chilled, roll the pie dough out to about 1/8″ thick, it should be quite thin. It needs to be about 14″x14″.
• Gently drape the dough over the metal pie pan and lift the sides to allow the pie dough to reach all the way into the bottom edges of the pan.
• Trim off the corners but be sure to leave at least an inch or two of overhang. Fold the overhand under the edge of the pie dough to create a double thick crust that sits on the lip of the pie pan.
• Crimp the pie dough however you want, just make sure the double layer of dough stays resting on the lip of the pie pan.
• Prick the base of the dough with a fork and then place the pie dough into the freezer for 30 minutes while the oven heats up.
• Place a rack in the center of the oven and heat it to 425 F.
• Once 30 minutes have passed and the oven is hot, crinkle a piece of parchment paper and press it into the frozen pie crust.
• Fill the pie with baking weights or beans. The pie weights should fill at least 2/3 of the height of the pie pan. Place the pie pan onto a baking sheet and bake in the hot oven for 12 minutes. *Keep an eye on it – if it seems to be getting dark after 12 minutes, turn your oven down 25 degrees and tent it with a sheet of foil for the remaining bake time! Every oven is a little different so just keep an eye on it if you aren’t used to baking pies in your oven.
• After 12 minutes rotate the pan 180 degrees and bake for another 10 minutes until the edges become a pale but golden brown.

Assemble and Bake the Pie

• Once par-baked, take the pie crust out of the oven. Turn the oven down to 350 F. Carefully lift the parchment and pie weights out of the crust and set aside to cool off.
• Allow the crust to cool for 5-10 minutes.
• Pour the sweet potato filling through a fine mesh sieve into the pie crust. Smooth out the top with the back of a spoon or rubber spatula.
• Crumble the brown sugar pecan crumble gently over the top.
• Place the pie back in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Then rotate the pan 180 degrees and bake for another 20 minutes until the crust is fully golden brown and the edges of the filling have puffed slightly.
• Remove the pie from the oven and leave it to cool for an hour at room temperature before transferring it to the fridge for at least 2-3 hours until fully chilled and set.
• If the pie isn’t lifting out of the pan it’s likely because the butter from the crust has hardened so just let it sit for a little or use a torch along the bottom and sides of the pan to release the crust.

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