Looking for a holiday pie recipe that everyone can eat, even those who are vegan/vegetarian or gluten-intolerant? Try this delicious Sweet Potato Pie. Made with light coconut milk, the filling is soft and light and the crust has a nuttiness that’s delicious. Since these little pies are made in cupcake sized pans, it makes an elegant presentation for your holiday table.

Recipe courtesy of Jessica Gerber of Jessica’s Dinners jenessasdinners.blogspot.com and SideChef www.sidechef.com

Makes 12 standard cupcake size pies

10 oz whole pecans

3 oz. sliced almonds

3 oz chopped walnuts

10-12 pitted dates

1/8 cup maple syrup (use real maple syrup, not imitation)

2 tbsp coconut oil, melted

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

2 large sweet potatoes

3/4 cup light coconut milk

2 tbsp corn starch

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

pinch of ground cloves

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Skin and cut the sweet potatoes into large pieces. dd them to a large pot of water and bring to a boil, cooking for about 15 minutes, or until very soft.

As the potatoes cook, make the nut crust for the pies. Pulse all the nuts in a food processor until they are finely chopped. Add the dates and pulse until the nuts just begin to hold together. By hand, stir in the maple syrup, coconut oil, 1/4 tsp. of cinnamon and 1/4 tsp. of salt.

Press 2 heaping tbsp. of the crust mixture into each place in the cupcake pan, pressing it up along the sides until and even crust of about 1/8 in formed (but err on the side of thicker). (You can also use one large pie dish if you prefer.)

Bake the crusts for 10 minutes in the oven, and then allow to cool, while you prepare the filling.

For the filling, drain and mash the sweet potatoes, mixing them with the coconut milk and remaining spices. Save some of the boiling water to mix with the corn starch until it dissolves.

Over medium heat, add the potato mixture back into the pot along with the dissolved corn starch and brown sugar. Cook until the sugar is melted everything is combined. To make the filling as smooth as possible, transfer to a food processor, blender, or use an immersion blender, to finish.

Fill each cup of nut crust with sweet potato, and return to the oven to bake for another 15 minutes. The filling will remain soft.

Let the pies cool completely in the pan before attempting to remove them. You can also chill the pies in the freezer a bit (don’t let them get too cold, or the crust will crack).