Old Fashioned Cookie Crust Sweet Potato Pie Recipe, spiced with bourbon, in a buttery rich pecan cookie-like crust easy enough for novice bakers!
There’s A Reason This Pie Is Called ‘Old Fashioned’
Yes, there’s a reason sweet potato pie has been a table staple for generations, it’s comfort and celebration in a single slice. But this version leans into a little extra luxury, beginning with a cookie-like crust of butter, oats, and pecans that crumbles just so beneath the fork.
The filling is built on roasted sweet potatoes, their earthy sweetness deepened with sugar and made silky with eggs and a touch of cream, or mascarpone, if you’re feeling indulgent. A chorus of spices – cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, mace, and just a whisper of clove – warm the pie from within, while fresh orange zest brightens the richness. And then, a final flourish: a splash of bourbon, weaving its smoky vanilla into every bite.
This isn’t just pie; it’s a story of textures and aromas, of rustic roots dressed in a little finery. It’s the kind of dessert that makes a gathering feel like a celebration, even if it’s just you and a fork in a quiet kitchen.
Sweet Potato Pie
Taste and Texture is what makes sweet potato pie an all time favorite for Thanksgiving dinner, made with fresh sweet potatoes!
Sweet potatoes, when simply roasted, are sweet, custard-like in texture, loaded with a nutrient profile and lend themselves to a variety of sweet potato recipes.
Add to these beauties, a little bourbon, sugar (not much) and that lovely blend of autumn warm spices we all long for: ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, mace and cloves with a little zest of an orange.
And while an old fashioned sweet potato pie has a bittersweet history, the flavors of this pie are enough to make peace between all peoples!
Pie Recipes Of Autumn
We are then, talking about all the color and flavors of autumn.
Maybe you will tell your Pumpkin Pie to move over, since these two pies are often in competition!
Take it a step further and bake this luscious sweet potato pie in a quick crust that crunches like a cookie, a pecan cookie no less, and you’ve got the best pie for the holiday season.
After all, the only other competition to this sweet potato pie for the holidays would be traditional Pumpkin Pie or bourbon pecan pie, so in a way, I’ve rolled all those into this one!
Quick Crisp Crust
Who doesn’t want an easy pie crust that can be whipped up in under 5-minutes at home!
Sure you can use a store-bought pie crust, but this crust is so fast an easy, you couldn’t go to the store and be back before several of these cookie crust recipes are pressed into several pie plates!
I created this No-Roll Pie Crust with ingredients that would make a successful pie crust each and every time.
Once the pecans (or other nuts of choice), and oats are crushed in a food processor, turning them into a grain and protein rich flour, I add a little flour to finish the balance of flours needed.
Butter is then added, though coconut oil works well too, very little sugar, pinch of spices and an egg white to bind the crust together when baking.
Adding a little yeast to a mix like this and you suddenly have a healthier Pizza Crust.
Easy Pie Crust Preparation
Once the pie crust comes together in the food processor, forming a ball, that lovely ball gets pressed into the pie pan. That’s about it!
The dough spreads easily around the pan. You need only to wiggle it up the sides with your fingers and crimp the edges just as you would any pie crust.
I found a fun tool I use often that looks like a child’s rolling pin, something like they might use to shape clay or play doh.
It’s really just a flat wooden wheel that works dough into tiny corners, but a great tool in working with dough of all sorts.
I am big on kitchen toys and while this one smooths the bottom of the pie crust it isn’t necessary.
Using a fork to press the bottom and sides works just fine.
After all, a pie filling is going into this lovely crust so no one will see the bottom except you. I’m just quirky like that!
How To Make Quick Crust Sweet Potato Pie
The first thing to do is cook the sweet potatoes. This can be done in several different ways.
I find the easiest, faster way is to peel, cut into small cubes and drop into boiling water, lid on for 5-minutes.
Once they cook and are cooled, they are ready to become a pie.
However, is might be just as easy to toss a tray of raw sweet potatoes, place in a hot oven to cook while you make pie crusts and tuck them into the fridge.
In no time at all you will have a baked sweet potato that just needs to cool and get scooped out.
The ingredients that will go into the sweet potato filling and simple ingredients of eggs, something creamy and warm spices.
Once the filling is poured into the crusts, cooking time goes rather fast and your pie baking work is all done.
Only thing needed, well… only if you want it, is a dollop of whipped cream!
A Quick Pie The Old Fashioned Way
A quick no-roll pie crust is the way to go for all your open face pie recipes.
I’m serious, it takes less than 5-minutes to have this pie crust in your pie pan and ready for this amazing sweet potato pie filling.
While the sweet potatoes boil and cool, and the pie crust is being pressed into the pie pan, the rest goes fast.
Place the cooked sweet potatoes into a food processor or blender, add the remaining pie ingredients, whisk and pour into the prepared pie crust.
Bakes in under an hour.
Pie and Crust Planning
If you are making this scrumptious, easy pecan (or your favorite nut), pie crust, and why wouldn’t you be… take note that an egg white goes into the pie crust.
That leaves the egg yolk to be used in the sweet potato pie filling. Good planning!
Another way to plan for making this pie is to save leftover sweet potatoes you’ve made for another meal.
Or perhaps just peel and boil the sweet potatoes days in advance so they are ready when you are.
Other Scrumptious Quick Crust Pies
Every season provides wonderful ingredients for making pies, even the root vegetables we often don’t think of in a pie.
For many of my other favorite quick crust pies, they can be found right here:
- Grandma’s Bourbon Pecan Pie – are loaded with pecans, both in the pie crust and filling; which is a bit boozy with good ole southern Bourbon.
- Chocolate Reindeer Cheesecake – with cranberry compote, served as individual holiday treats, create a celebration to remember.
- Almond Oat Crust Fig Tart – with crushed almonds and oats in the crust, mascarpone and orange blossom custard, topped with lots of fresh figs.
- Olive Oil Blueberry Pie – with Olive Oil Crust and Crumble, you will not find, with crushed almonds, spelt flour, unrefined sugar and quality olive oil.
Ingredients
- Butter – the foundation of flavor, it melts into the crust, binding oats and nuts with richness and lending that unmistakable golden finish.
- Pecans – earthy, toasty, and faintly sweet, they bring both crunch and a Southern soul to the crust. When baked, they echo the nutty undertones of sweet potatoes.
- Oats – add chew, warmth, and a rustic charm to the crust, giving it more character than plain flour could. Think of them as the humble backbone that makes the crust hearty.
- Flour – just enough to be a quiet stabilizer. Without it, the crust would crumble into granola. It holds all the exuberance of butter, nuts, and oats together.
- Sweet potatoes – are the star of the show in this old fashioned pie. Naturally sweet, creamy, and sun-kissed with a hint of caramel once roasted. Their flesh carries the pie with both comfort and elegance.
- Eggs – the invisible magic that transforms mashed sweet potatoes into custard, setting the pie’s filling into silky cohesion.
- Sugar – more than sweetener, it deepens the caramel notes of roasted sweet potatoes, balancing earthiness with light.
- Mascarpone, heavy cream or sour cream – each choice changes the filling’s personality: mascarpone makes it decadent and velvety, cream makes it luscious and traditional, and sour cream brings a tangy contrast that brightens the richness.
- Cinnamon – warm, familiar, and nostalgic. It’s the spice that makes people feel “pie season” has arrived.
- Ginger – a lively spark that cuts through the sweetness, adding just enough fire to keep every bite interesting.
- Cardamom – exotic and citrusy, cardamom brings elegance, lifting the pie into something that feels both traditional and new.
- Mace – the softer, floral cousin of nutmeg, with whispers of spice that give the pie depth without shouting.
- Cloves – potent, dark, and resinous. Just a pinch grounds the sweetness, making the filling feel sophisticated instead of candy-like.
- Orange – a fresh, zesty lift, its juice and zest cuts through richness, while its aroma plays beautifully with warm spices.
- Bourbon – a grown-up flourish. Its smoky vanilla undertones meld with roasted sweet potato and spices, leaving a lingering warmth that says ‘this pie is not your grandmother’s’!
Equipment
- Pie pan or dish – a great ceramic pie dish for baking in and yet pretty to serve in is my choice here.
- Food processor – while a large food processor is great for all jobs, an affordable smaller version is great for jobs just like this, and so I wanted to give you my choice of smaller processors.
- Rubber spatula makes it easier to scrap ingredients out from the mixing bowl while transferring to the prepared pie crust.
- Measuring cup, and measuring spoons of course, for accurate recipe calculations.
- Oven
Old Fashioned Cookie Crust Sweet Potato Pie Recipe
Equipment
- Pie Dish
- Food processor
Ingredients
- Cookie-like Pie Shell
- 1 cup Pecans or other nuts
- 1 cup Oats uncooked
- 3/4 cup All Purpose Flour
- 6 tbsp Butter room temperature
- 1/4 cup Brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp Ground Cardamom
- 1/4 tsp Ground Ginger
- 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1 Egg white
- Sweet Potato Pie Filling
- 2 cups Cooked Sweet Potatoes
- 3 Egg yolks
- 2 Egg whites
- 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
- 1/4 cup Bourbon
- 1/4 cup Mascarpone, heavy cream or sour cream
- 1 tbsp Ground Cinnamon
- 2 tsp Ground Ginger
- 1 tsp Ground Cardamom
- 1/4 tsp Mace
- 1/4 tsp Ground Cloves
- 1 tbsp Fresh Orange zest
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees f
- Crust – In a food processor, crush the pecans and oats.
- Add the flour, sugar and wonderful warm spices and pulse. Add the butter and pulse until it resembles coarse meal.
- With the processor running, add the egg white and let it run until the mixture forms a dough ball. If sticky, add more flour, if dry, drizzle a few drops of ice water.
- In a 9-inch pie pan, press the dough evenly across the bottom, working the dough up the edges, to the top edge of the pie plate. With a mini rolling pin (a favorite tool of mine), roll the dough smooth on the bottom and sides. Crimp the edges as you would any pie crust. Place in the fridge while working on the sweet potato puree.
- Sweet Potato Mixture – Baked sweet potatoes, cooled, can be placed on a cutting board, cut open and the sweet potato flesh can be scooped out into a large bowl of an electric mixer or food processor. Uncooked sweet potatoes need to be peeled, cubed with a sharp knife and boiled, which only takes about 15-minutes to cook, and can be done while preparing the pie crust. Drain and cool.
- Add all of the remaining ingredients to the cooked sweet potatoes and mix the batter on medium speed until it is velvety smooth.
- Transfer into the prepared pie dough, place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 10-minutes, and then turn down the oven temperature to 350 and continue baking until the crust is golden brown and the center of the pie is firm to the touch, like any other custard pie, about 45-minutes.
- If the crust is becoming brown too quickly, a long strip of aluminum foil can be placed around just the crust until the pie is finished baking.
Video
Old Fashioned Cookie Crust Sweet Potato Pie Recipe
I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.