When asked to conjure up decadent desserts, no one thinks of plain ol’ sweet potatoes, but we wanted to give these taters a shot. Using them as a base, we put a little spin on an age old dessert – the pecan pie. Featuring a generous portion of buttery graham crackers and topped with a sweet pecan filling, your family won’t even notice the copious amounts of Vitamin A they’re ingesting 😉
Here’s what you’ll need:
Potatoes
- 4 medium sized sweet potatoes
- 6 graham cracker sheets (12 squares), broken into pieces
- 1 ½ Tbsp unsalted butter
- ½ tsp cinnamon
Pecan Filling
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 cup pecans, roughly chopped
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ¼ tsp salt
Preparing the potatoes & the filling
The most time consuming part of this recipe is pre-baking the potatoes to get their flesh nice and soft, so turn on the oven to 400F asap. Set the four potatoes onto a lined baking sheet and put them into oven once it reaches the right temperature. Bake them for 50 – 60 minutes until the inside is soft (you can check by pricking one with a fork). Then take them out and set them aside, while keeping the oven on at 400F.
While the potatoes are baking for the better part of an hour, let’s gain some efficiency here and make the pecan filling. Save the chopped pecans, put all of the pecan filling ingredients into a sauce pan, give them a good whisk and then set the pan over high heat. Bring the pan to a boil first, then reduce the heat to medium high so that you get a nice simmer going. Simmer the mixture for 5 – 6 minutes until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon.
Lastly remove the pan from heat, and stir in the chopped pecans.
Putting it all together
Once the sweet potatoes have been removed from the oven and are cool enough to handle, make a lengthwise slit down the centre of each potato.
Gently scoop out the flesh and place into a medium sized bowl. Handle the taters gently – you’ll want to leave a bit of flesh inside the skins so that the potatoes maintain their shape. Take the scooped flesh and mash it with a fork while mixing in the graham cracker pieces, butter and cinnamon.
Place the potatoes back on to the baking sheet, then carefully spoon the flesh-cracker mixture back into each potato. Next, divide the pecan filling among the potatoes evenly and spread it on top. Bake the potatoes for an additional 8-10 minutes at 400F, and serve immediately. The best part? Everyone gets a lil’ pie to call their own.
We would love to see your rendition if you give this recipe a whirl. Tag us on Instagram @caffedemetre, or post on our Facebook page.
| Servings |
servings
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- 4 medium sized Sweet potatoes
- 6 sheets Graham crackers (12 squares) broken into pieces
- 1 1/2 Tbsp Unsalted butter
- 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 cup Pecan roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup Unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup Brown sugar
- 1/4 cup Maple syrup
- 1/4 cup Heavy cream
- 1/4 tsp Salt
Ingredients
Sweet Potatoes
Pecan Filling
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- Set oven to 400F and place potatoes on a foil lined baking sheet.
- Once the oven reaches 400F, bake the potatoes for about 50-60 minutes until the inside is soft.
- While the potatoes are baking, whisk together all pecan ingredients in a sauce pan and set over high heat.
- Bring pan to a boil, and then reduce heat to medium high and simmer for 5-6 minutes until mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon.
- Remove from heat and stir in chopped pecans.
- Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle, make a lengthwise slit down the centre of each potato and gently scoop out the flesh into a medium sized bowl. Make sure not to puncture the skin - you want to leave a little flesh inside the shell so that the potato maintains its shape.
- Mash the flesh with a fork, mixing in the graham cracker, butter and cinnamon.
- Place the potatoes back on to the baking sheet, and carefully spoon the flesh-cracker mixture back into each potato.
- Divide the pecan filling among the potatoes, spreading it over the cracker mixture.
- Bake the potatoes for an additional 8-10 minutes. Serve immediately.
