Peanut Butter Sweet Potato Pie

I know you must be thinking it's summer, there's a heat wave in many places around the world, who wants to be baking? And with sweet potatoes of all things (a typically autumn-vibe kind of food)... and why peanut butter and sweet potatoes together... in a pie... What's going on here?!! Right?

Well luckily this is unbaking -- this gluten-free and vegan peanut butter sweet potato pie is a no-bake dessert. Blend, freeze, wait, enjoy! No heat and no prolonged oven use involved.

Plus, this dessert is absolutely lovely in its chilled form, sort of like enjoying a gelato. It's cold, velvety smooth, and has a bold flavor. Not saying this dessert isn't suited for autumn (hey, I'm an ice cream kind of a girl all year round..), but it was particularly satisfying during this past week in our super hot house in this super sunny weather (of which I'm loving every single minute!).

Now there is some potential strangeness with peanut butter and sweet potato pie as a dessert. I'm pretty sure it's a thing in some old time American traditional recipes anyways, but I arrived at this dessert by drawing inspiration from this pumpkin and peanut butter pie I made a little while back.

Somehow it works. This sweet potato pie is rich, creamy, lush, and very sweet potato-y, and very peanut buttery -- so if you love both flavors, you're in for a real treat!

How to top your pie

Quick side note: I was planning to top it with vegan coconut whipped cream, chilling a can of what I thought was premium coconut milk to make the whip. Unfortunately upon opening the can I realized I had bought lite coconut cream by mistake -- yikes! So no whip for me.

Given I have to drive into town to get anything and the drive for some whipped cream (no matter how tasty) just wasn't worth it, I opted out for some, erm... futuristic? peanut butter drizzle on the pie instead.

Don't judge. Ok, judge as you like. :D I'm sure there are plenty of better ways to layer that peanut butter on, but heat and time were working against me, so avant garde-ish sweet potato peanut butter pie it was. Once you slice it it looks pretty decent though, but for full disclosure, here's my hurriedly delicious peanut butter mess below.

Suggested recipe substitutions/ alternatives

I put in tons of alternative options for this vegan sweet potato pie in the notes of the recipe:

• If you want to make it not only gluten-free, but also grain-free (or oat-free), there's an alternative crust suggestion there (just use sweet potato instead of pumpkin in that recipe, otherwise that crust would be wonderful here too).
• If you hate raisins (I know you're out there!), use some medjool dates instead (I just liked the light tartness of the raisins here, which is why I went for them).
• I didn't mention an alternative to peanut butter (it's a peanut butter pie, after all! :) ), but I'm sure this would be tasty with toasted almond butter or cashew butter. Just keep in mind that with these types of swaps you'll need to adjust the flavors also (since some nut butters are sweeter than others or have a more or less prominant flavor, etc.).
• If you don't like sweet potatoes (why are you looking at a sweet potato recipe, haha!), you might prefer this pumpkin pb pie instead.

So as you can see lots of alternatives. Though I'm only vouching for the version I shared below of course. That said, if you try any alternatives, I'd love to hear what you did and how it turned out in the comments (I'm sure others looking for alternatives would love to hear that kind of stuff shared too).

Peanut Butter Sweet Potato Pie

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A deliciously smooth and creamy pie that combines the richness of peanut butter with the lovely flavor of sweet potatoes. Vegan, gluten-free, oil-free.

• Author: Audrey @ Unconventional Baker
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 20 minutes
• Yield: 7" pie
• Category: Pies and Tarts
• Method: No-Bake
• Cuisine: Dessert

Ingredients

Crust:

• 1 ¼ cup rolled oats*
• ¼ cup raisins**
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tbsp smooth natural peanut butter
• 1 tbsp warm water

Filling:

• ½ cup sweet potato puree***
• 6 tbsp smooth natural peanut butter****
• 5 tbsp unsweetened vanilla almond milk*****
• 5 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 ½ tsp cinnamon (ground spice)
• ¼ tsp salt
• less than a 1/16 teaspoon raw ground vanilla bean (or ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract)
• less than a 1/16 teaspoon cloves (ground spice)
• less than a 1/16 teaspoon nutmeg (ground spice)

Toppings:

• a few tablespoon smooth natural peanut butter
• optional: coconut whipped cream for serving

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Instructions

Process oats into a fine crumble in a food processor. Add remaining crust ingredients and process to combine into a sticky fine crumble (pinch some of the mixture with two fingers to make sure it sticks together. If not, add a touch more of either water, pb, or maple syrup and process again).

Transfer this mixture into a 7" tart pan with a removable bottom. Press down into an even crust with your fingers along the base and walls of the pan. Set aside.

Blend all filling ingredients in a power blender. Transfer this mixture into the prepared pie crust, flatten and even out the filling with the back of a spoon.

Freeze the pie for 6 hours to set. Once it's set, you can either serve it plain, or drizzle the top with some runny smooth peanut butter (as pictured). Alternatively serve it with a side of vegan whipped cream. Keep the pie frozen until serving time. Thaw out lightly, then remove from the pan and cut into slices. Enjoy!******

Notes

*Note: if you prefer this recipe to be grain-free, use the crust from this recipe instead.

**If you're not a fan of raisins, feel free to use 4 soft pitted medjool dates instead.

***I used canned organic sweet potato puree here (almost half of a 15oz / 425gr can). You can make some from scratch if you prefer instead.

****For best results use peanut butter that is smooth and creamy. If using a new jar, stir until it's as runny and creamy as possible.

*****Or another non-dairy milk of your choice.

******Treat this type of dessert as you would ice cream. If left too long at room temperature or in hot weather, the pie will begin to melt. So keep frozen until ready to eat. Once you serve the pie, I recommend returning any unserved slices back to the freezer to keep them chilled.