These Vegan Mini Sweet Potato Pies are deliciously rich and cream enveloped by a buttery and flaky crust. It is packed with warming spices like ground cinnamon and nutmeg and is a must make for autumn!
My mom is a huge sweet potato lover. Whenever there wasn’t a big holiday or observance day, my mom would always grab some sweet potatoes during her weekly trips to Chinatown. When she comes home, she would steam them all and have them as a snack while she is catching up with a show.
Other than steaming sweet potatoes, I never had it in any other way until maybe when I was in college, trying sweet potato pie for the first time. Since my mom mainly cooked Chinese/Vietnamese dishes at home, we hardly had American food. It wasn’t until I got curious enough to learn to use the oven (yes, my mom didn’t use the oven for over a decade because she didn’t understand how to use it), that my baking adventure began.
I’ve only heard of apple and pumpkin pie before so I was surprised to learn about sweet potato pie, not knowing you can use them for baking at all. I didn’t know where I was all those years after I had a bite of the sweet potato pie because at that moment I think I loved it more than pumpkin pie. The sweet potatoes have a natural sweetness to them already and I love that the filling is thicker, richer, and smoother than pumpkin pie filling. Since then, sweet potato pie and pumpkin pie are a must-bake for me every year.
If you have never made a sweet potato pie before, it is very similar to a pumpkin pie except for the spices and like I mentioned, the texture is a bit thicker. Pumpkin spice usually has some allspice or cardamon to it and sweet potato pie usually has ground cinnamon and nutmeg. If you are stuck like me in choosing between the two, I would make them both. I promise your family would not mind especially since these are mini sweet potato pies and if needed, you can cut the recipe in half to make a smaller batch of them. So, are you ready to make these Vegan Mini Sweet Potato Pies?
Here is an overview of these Vegan Mini Sweet Potato Pies.
Ingredients
Flour: I used regular all-purpose flour but you can also make them gluten-free with 1:1 gluten-free flour. I recommend using Bob’s Red Mill’s 1:1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour, the one in a blue bag.
Sugar: To make these sweet potato pies refined-sugar-free, substitute the powdered sugar and cane sugar with coconut sugar. Note that the crust will look a bit darker in color if you use coconut sugar.
Sweet Potatoes: I steamed some sweet potatoes and pureed them, but you can also bake them or use canned sweet potatoes.
Vegan Butter: I like to use unsalted vegan butter to better control the salt amount, but you can also use salted vegan butter. Leave out the salt in the pie crust.
Tips
Can I make these Vegan Mini Sweet Potato Pies gluten-free?
You can substitute the flour with 1:1 gluten-free flour!
How do I store these pies?
If you have any leftovers, store the pie in an airtight container and place them in the fridge. When you want to eat them, preheat your oven to 200°F or 100C. Heat the pie for about 10-12 minutes until it is warm again. You can also have it cold if you prefer!
What can I substitute arrowroot powder with?
You can substitute the same amount with cornstarch or tapioca flour!
If you like these Vegan Mini Sweet Potato Pies, you might also like:
Vegan Pumpkin Spiced Hand Pies
Vegan Cranberry Pie
Easy Vegan Pear Pie
I cannot wait for you to make these Vegan Mini Sweet Potato Pies! If you do, please tag me on Instagram @_withhelen or leave a comment below letting me know how you like them! Enjoy!
Vegan Mini Sweet Potato Pies
These Vegan Mini Sweet Potato Pies are deliciously rich and cream enveloped by a buttery and flaky crust. It is packed with warming spices like ground cinnamon and nutmeg and is a must make for autumn!
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 16
- Category: Sweets
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
Crust
220 grams (1 ¾ cup) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
50 grams (½ cup) powdered sugar
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
115 grams (½ cup) unsalted, vegan butter, cold, cubed about 1 inch in size
5-10 grams (1-2 teaspoons) vegan, evaporated milk, cold
Filling
300g (1 ½ cups) sweet potato puree
80g (⅓ cup + 1 tbsp) cane sugar
58g (4 tbsp) unsalted plant-butter, melted
63g (¼ cup) unsweetened plant-based milk, room temperature
43g (2 tbsp) maple syrup
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
20g (2 tbsp) arrowroot powder
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
⅛ tsp fine sea salt
Instructions
- Prepare the crust. Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse to blend. Scatter the cubed, vegan butter over the flour and pulse until the butter is well incorporated. This should only take a few seconds.
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Add the cold, vegan evaporated milk 1 teaspoon at a time into the food processor and pulse with each addition. Stop adding the milk when you see soft, moist clumps. The dough is ready when you pinch some dough together and it holds together.
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Shape the dough into a disk. If the dough is still cold (the butter should not be melting), you can roll the dough out now. If not, wrap the disk in plastic wrap or transfer it into an airtight container and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
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When the dough is about ready, preheat the oven to 350°F or 180C. Grease a muffin pan with some vegan butter or coconut oil.
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Roll the dough between two sheets of parchment paper. Lightly flour a sheet of parchment paper. Take the dough out of the refrigerator and place it on the center of the parchment paper. Lightly flour the dough and cover it with a second sheet of parchment paper. Roll the dough into a round shape, about 12 inches (30 centimeters) in diameter. Using a 3 inch cookie cutter, cut the dough into 15 pieces, rerolling the dough as needed. Place each piece of dough into the muffin pan, shaping the edges with your hands, pressing on all the sides. If you have extra dough, feel free to use other cookie cutter shapes to decorate the top of the pies. Transfer the crust to the refrigerator while you make the filling.
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Add all the ingredients for the filling to a blender and blend until smooth and well-combined, scraping down the sides as needed. Divide the filling among the muffin pan, filling it about 3/4th of the way full. Top with any cut out dough you desired (optional).
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Bake the pies for 30 minutes. Then, rotate the muffin pan and bake for an additional 5-8 minutes, or until the crust is lightly browned. Allow the pies to cool before transferring them to a cooling rack. Enjoy!
Keywords: sweet potato pie, vegan pie, mini pies, Thanksgiving
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