Sweet Potato Cheesecake Pie- Grain Free
- Isabel S.
- Sep 14, 2017
- 4 min read
It's that time again! Time to pull out the crockpots, pumpkin pie spice, and cozy sweaters! Last year I discovered a recipe from Gluten Free on a Shoestring for a pumpkin cheese cake. It involves a cake layer on the bottom and a pumpkin cheesecake layer on the top. When it's baked, the cake layer forms around the cheesecake creating a beautiful marriage of cake and cheesecake with a fall twist.
That is still one of my favorite fall deserts out there, but I decided I wanted to come up with a new go to pie this year. What I've done is taken the cheesecake portion of the above recipe, replaced the pumpkin with sweet potato, and added it to my delicious grain free/dairy free pie crust! I used to get so frustrated when making gluten free pies because I could never get the crust right. It would either be too dense, to dry, or to oily, but I have found the secret formula! My husband says it's his favorite crust he's ever had, gluten free or not. He's not one to just throw around compliments, so it must be pretty darn good!
It's very helpful to have a food processor to make this crust. You could mix it by hand, but the food processor does a way better job at getting everything incorporated evenly. You'll need an electric mixer for the cheesecake portion. It doesn't matter if it's hand held or stand up...as long as you are able to whip the fire out of the cream cheese. Working in a fair amount of air is part of what makes a cheesecakes texture so heavenly!
Another thing I want to touch on is the benefits of sweet potatoes. They're an excellent source of vitamin A, C, manganese, copper, pantothenic acid, B vitamins, potassium, dietary fiber, niacin, and phosphorus. Whoa! Pumpkin is not unhealthy and has vitamins and health benefits also, but I love how packed full of goodness the
sweet potato is!
Ingredients
(My original recipe is for a tart size pan. I doubled the recipe to fit my larger pie pan.)
For crust
1 1/2 cups almond flour (not almond meal)
6 TBSP cashew meal
2 egg whites
1/2 cup soft/almost melted coconut oil.
Honestly a little less than 1/2 cup might work better because I always end up dabbing out extra oil after the blind bake. The problem is, I don't want to reduce it much. So, my instructions would end up being 1/2 cup with 2 tsp removed. That's super confusing and the crust works well so I'm not going to mess with it!
For filling
1 block (8oz) cream cheese- SOFTENED to room temp
1 cup baked sweet potato
2 room temp whole eggs
3/4 cup organic, unbleached cane sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 cinnamon
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 TBSP corn starch
The very first thing I do when starting this recipe is take out my eggs/cream cheese and put them on or beside the oven.
Directions
For sweet potato
Preheat oven to 400F
Cut sweet potato into equal 4 sections.
Place cut side down on a baking sheet.
Bake for about 20 minutes/until soft
While sweet potato is baking make pie dough
1) Add all the crust ingredients into your food processor and pulse until most of the dough comes together.
2) Remove all of the dough from the processor and form it into a ball.
3) Put it on a non stick surface and flatten slightly (I use a small Silpat).
4) Place in the fridge to chill while the sweet potato finishes baking.
Once the sweet potato is baked, remove it/set aside to cool, and finish the crust.
Crust
1) Lightly oil a pie pan with coconut oil and remove dough from the refrigerator.
2) Place your dough ball in the middle of the pie pan and gently press into an even layer to and up the sides of the pie pan.
This dough is very soft and you will not be able to roll it out like traditional pie crust.
3) Poke a few holes in the bottom and on the sides with a fork.
Bake at 350F for about 20 minutes- you want the crust to be firm with a slight color change, not brown.
When baked, remove the crust from the oven, dab extra oil off the crust with a paper towel.
Start on the filling while the crust cools.
Filling
1) Once cool enough to handle, remove skins from the sweet potato and mash well or pulse in a food processor until smooth.
2) Add the whole block of room temp. cream cheese to a bowl and mix on high until light and fluffy
3) Add mashed sweet potato then add the eggs and allow everything to mix until incorporated.
4) Slowly add the sugar. I add 1/4 cup at a time and let it mix for about a minute in between.
5) While the last 1/4 cup of sugar is mixing, add the vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, turmeric, and salt.
6) Add cornstarch and mix until incorporated.
To finish
1) Slowly pour the filling into the crust making sure none of the filling is above the crust border
2) Bake at 375F for 30-40 minutes.
If the exposed crust starts to get to brown, before the filling is cooked, add foil around the edges of the pie, just covering the crust.
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