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, my cooking 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 butter/oil spread, softened

2 TB sour cream

1-2 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

2 TB butter/oil spread

3 TB unsweetened almond milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg, lightly beaten

For the coconut crumb topping:

3 TB butter/oil spread

2 TB packed 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:

Whisk together butter, sugars and salt until smooth. Add coconut. Stir in flour. Make sure all the flour is coated. Press dough into clumps with 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:

Whisk flour, powdered sugar, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl. Cut butter/oil spread into flour mixture.

Make a well in the bottom of the bowl. Add sour cream vegetable oil and 1 TB water in the well. Gradually stir flour into the well until all the flour is coated.

Dough will have some dry crumbs. That's okay. Add 1 TB of water at a time if dough until it forms a ball.

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.

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. Carefully remove from microwave. Cool on a rack.

For the sweet potato filling:

In a medium bowl, combine sweet potatoes, cinnamon, sugar and butter/oil spread. Stir until smooth.

Stir vanilla and almond milk into sweet potatoes. Beat in egg until the filling is smooth.

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 at a time until the center is almost set.

Carefully remove pie from microwave and cool on a wire rack.

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.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse