This sweet potato pie from Detroit’s fantastic Sister Pie is way too good to reserve just for Thanksgiving. It’s perfect for making all fall and winter, when pie-appropriate produce can be scare—but root veggies are in their prime, and perfect for a hearty pie to comfort you through the cold months. The creamy, coconut milk-enriched filling is fragrant with brown sugar and cardamom, and the generous border of crunchy toasted coconut flakes is a great contrast to the smooth sweet potato underneath. The golden, frilly pie crust, of course, is perfect.

Check out Sister Pie’s stunning Salted Maple Pie recipe too. And for another twist on the traditional sweet potato pie, try our Pecan Sweet Potato Pie recipe.

Note: The book has great, detailed instructions for making, rolling out, crimping, and blind baking their signature All-Butter Pie Dough, but if you don’t have it on hand, you can also use our Easy Pie Dough recipe. After letting the crust chill in the fridge for at least a couple hours, if not overnight, roll it out, transfer it to your pie plate, crimp the edges, and put it in the freezer for 15 minutes. Then, you’ll be ready to blind bake the crust per the recipe instructions.

  • Yield: 1 9-inch pie
  • Total: 2 hr 30 min 
  • Active: 1 hr

Ingredients (16)

For extra blind baking the crust:

  • 1 9-inch pie crust, crimped and frozen for at least 15 minutes
  • aluminum foil
  • 1 1/2 pounds dried beans (we use pinto and black, but use whatever you have)
  • 1 egg, beaten

For filling the pie:

  • 1 pound sweet potatoes
  • 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 tablespoons fine yellow cornmeal
  • 1/2 cup full-fat canned coconut milk
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream, at room temperature
  • 6 large egg yolks, at room temperature
  • 1 9-inch pie crust made with All-Butter Pie Dough, extra blind baked and cooled
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 1/2 cup large flake coconut, toasted

Instructions

To blind bake the crust:

  1. Preheat your oven to 450°F with the rack on the lowest level. Remove the pie crust from the freezer, tear off a square of aluminum foil that is slightly larger than the pie shell, and gently fit it into the frozen crust. Fill the crust with the dried beans (they should come all the way up to the crimps) and place the pie pan on a baking sheet. Transfer the baking sheet to the oven and bake for 25 to 27 minutes. Check for doneness by peeling up a piece of foil—the crimps should be light golden brown. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, fold back the foil, exposing the crimps, but keep the bean package in the center of the tin. Brush the crimps with the beaten egg and place the baking sheet back in the oven for another 5 to 7 minutes, or until the crust turns a deep golden brown. Transfer to a cooling rack. After 6 minutes, carefully remove the foil and beans. You did it! You are now ready to fill the pie.

To fill and bake the pie:

  1. First, roast the sweet potatoes: Preheat your oven to 425°F. Scrub the sweet potatoes and wrap them in aluminum foil. Poke a few holes through the foil and into the sweet potatoes with a fork, and transfer them to a baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until you can smoosh the foil package with your oven mitt. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack. When cool enough to touch, carefully remove the skin from the sweet potatoes. Transfer the sweet potato flesh to a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Set aside. This step can be done up to 2 days in advance. Store the sweet potato puree in an airtight container in the fridge.
  2. Lower the oven temperature to 325°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  3. Make the filling: In a mixing bowl, combine the sweet potato puree with the butter, brown sugar, cardamom, salt, cornmeal, coconut milk, cream, and egg yolks and whisk until well blended.
  4. Place the blind-baked shell on the parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush the crimped edge with the beaten egg. Pour the sweet potato filling into the pie shell until it reaches the bottom of the crimps. Transfer the baking sheet with the pie on it to the oven and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until the edges are puffed and the center jiggles only slightly when shaken.
  5. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and transfer the pie to a wire rack. Let cool for 15 minutes, then decorate the perimeter of the pie with the toasted coconut. Allow the pie to fully cool for another 4 to 6 hours. When the pie is at room temperature, slice it into 6 to 8 pieces and serve.
  6. Store leftover pie, well wrapped in plastic wrap, in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.