A six inch round sweet potato pie with a coconut crumble topping with a knife beside it. The pie is on a brown craft paper.

Sweet Potato Pie with Coconut Crumble Topping

I always wanted to put crumble on a sweet potato pie. But wondered if it was a crime against sweet potato pies' purity. People take sweet potato pie seriously where I'm from.

Then I saw Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock's Sweet Potato Casserole recipe in The Gift of Southern Cooking. The recipe is an elegant dish of whipped sweet potatoes topped with a buttery, brown sugar and pecan topping. It's the permission (and inspiration) to top my sweet potato pie with a coconut crumble.

I mean if Edna Lewis, a culinary icon, did it...

The sweet potatoes, crumb topping and pie crust can be made days ahead of assembly.

Text and Photo by Jac Kyles Baker

Makes one 6 inch pie

Ingredients

For the pie crust:

1 cup all purpose flour

1 TB powdered sugar

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 TB vegetable oil

2 TB unsalted butter, softened

2 TB sour cream

1 to 2 TB cold water

For the sweet potato filling:

3 small sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed*

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 TB dark brown sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

2 TB unsalted butter, softened

3 TB unsweetened almond milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg, lightly beaten

For the coconut crumb topping:

3 TB unsalted butter, softened

2 TB packed light or dark brown sugar

2 TB granulated sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut, toasted

Preparation

Make coconut crumb topping:

In a medium bowl, whisk butter, sugars and salt together. Add coconut. Stir in flour. Pinch dough into small and large crumbs with your fingers.

Place crumb topping in freezer to set (minimum 15 minutes). The butter in a freshly made crumb topping will melt and form a crust instead of a crumble.

Set aside until ready to use. Crumb topping can be made ahead a stored in an airtight container. Keep refrigerated.

Make pie crust:

In a medium bowl: whisk flour, powdered sugar, baking powder and salt together. Cut butter into flour with a pastry cutter or fork.

Make a well in the bottom of the bowl. Mix sour cream, vegetable oil and 1 TB water in the well. Gradually stir in flour.

Add 1 TB of water at a time until dough holds together when pinched between your fingers.

Turn dough out from the bowl onto a piece of parchment or plastic wrap large enough to wrap dough. Flatten dough into a disk and wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Remove dough from the refrigerator. Roll dough into an 8 inch circle.* Carefully place the dough into the pan. Tuck dough around the edges of the pan. Return to the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes.

Prick dough lightly all over with a fork. Microwave on HIGH for 1 minute. Cool on a wire rack.

For the sweet potato filling:

In a medium bowl: stir sweet potatoes, cinnamon, salt, sugar and butter. Stir vanilla and almond milk. Beat in egg.

Assemble pie:

Evenly spread sweet potato filling into prepared pie crust.

Cover filling with 1/3 cup of the crumble topping. Microwave pie on MED HIGH (70% power) for 1 minute or until the center is almost set.

Cool pie on a wire rack.

Serve at room temperature. Cover pie. Keep refrigerated.

Cook's Notes

*I cook the sweet potatoes, whole in their skins, in the microwave on HIGH for five minutes.

Turn sweet potatoes over halfway through cooking time.

**If dough is too cold to roll easily, allow it to warm up at room temperature until easy to roll. Dough should remain cold to the touch.

Check the dough frequently while doing so. There's a fine line between warm enough to roll easily and too warm to roll easily.

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