| Food Blog by Arie
These mini sweet potato pies are an easy out to baking an entire potato pie from scratch. They’re baked with store-bought pie crust, pumpkin cream cheese filling, and a coating of cinnamon sugar. In other words, they taste JUST as good (if not better) than sweet potato pie, minus all the work!
Homemade pie is one of those very time-consuming desserts. It takes a lot of time to put together pie perfection, and get it perfect. This is why I decided to make it my business to create a sweet potato pie version my grandmother used to make when I was younger. I would sit there and watch my grandmother roll the pie dough, get the filling ready, and put all of her love into that pie. The twist about these sweet potato pies is that there is added cream cheese and cinnamon sugar. This makes them taste even better!!!
The filling is mixed by hand, and it is made up of only 5 simple ingredients. I am using a store-bought crust, which makes this recipe even more of a breeze. The cinnamon sugar adds in a layer of crunch and sweetness that just can’t be beaten.
Not only are they so good, but they are shaped like little pumpkins. They are cut out using a cute pumpkin cookie cutter, or one like mine the homemade one. The tops of the pumpkin have a real cut-out pumpkin outline that gives them the real pumpkin effect.
The items here listed below are the items needed for this recipe, I will have a typed recipe
One key takeaway here is that the cream cheese is softened before you begin to work with it. It has to be softened so that it can stir smoothly, and clear out any lumps. Please don’t be like me, I am impatient.
To start the cream cheese and the brown sugar are mixed together with a fork and made to be smooth. I found that mixing this batter well,
After you get the filling all mixed up, it is time to shape the little guys into the cutest little pumpkins you ever wanted to see. Remember we are using store-bought crust for this task, which makes it easy to handle and use.
The store-bought crust is very easy to handle, but there are a few things you should know before tearing it. I like to freeze my crust when it is not being used. Before you start using it, and if it has been stored in the freezer, give it time to thaw out. Don’t let it thaw to the point of it being too gooey. The crust needs to thaw long enough for it to still be workable with your rolling pin.
Once the crust is rolled out, and at the right temperature make sure to dust your surface with a little bit of all-purpose flour. This will keep your dough from sticking to your surface too much. Also, don’t forget to give your rolling pin a good dusting before you begin, it loves the dough too.
To half of the sweet potatoes, cut 4 rounded slits on the surface as these will act as the ridges to our sweet potatoes. I like to think of these as two sets of parentheses, one being wider than the other. Just don’t cut the slits too close to the edge, as this could cause the pie crust to break once you start crimping.
If you can get your hands on a gluten-free option, then go for it. I will be making sure to add a few gluten-free options here to the blog soon. Make sure that when you go to cut your crusts that you may want to use a spatula to lift them from the countertop, or they will break on you, or stick.
You can also put the pies back into the freezer for about 10 minutes before you place them in the oven. The butter may need to firm up again, to give you the most maximum flaky crust.
Absolutely!!! You can go ahead and wrap them up in saran wrap, not foil. After, they are wrapped store them in an air-tight container in the freezer. Make sure that the pies have no egg wash on them or any of the cinnamon and sugar mixture on them.
They can actually store longer than you think, my grandmother would store her pies as such. Only bake what you need, and store the rest. This is why my suggestion is to individually wrap them, so when thawed it isn’t wasteful.
