This raw pumpkin/sweet potato pie is soooo good! I made it for Thanksgiving, and it was a huge success!

A couple words to the wise here: Turns out that raw pumpkin is not nearly as sweet and flavorful as it is when cooked. In fact, it can almost taste a little acidity. But…raw sweet potato is actually quite fabulous, and it still retains that amazingly sweet flavor that it is known for. The best method for making this pie is to make it a day early, and have it sit in the freezer. This is especially important if you are planning on making this a 100% raw pumpkin pie. If not, then I would suggest you do 1/2 pumpkin and 1/2 sweet potato. The flavor is sooo much better, and it doesn’t have any of that “raw” vegetable taste.

Also, remember to soak your nuts first, for at least 4 hours prior to making this pie! This is important for blending purposes, as well as health purposes. For more information about this, please see my blog article, Soak Your Nuts!

Lastly, you will notice that I made 2 cashew cream icings, one coconut and one lemon coconut (as pictured above and below). You do not have to do both! I just made 2 because I had some extra cashews and wanted to see which one would taste better with the pie. The general consensus was the lemon one, though the coconut one was creamier, as I made it with raw coconut meat as opposed to coconut flakes.

So now that we have gone over a few prerequisites …

Let us begin!

For the pie crust you will need:

– 1 cup pecans (soaked previously for about 4 hours)

– 1 cup walnuts (or macadamias, soaked previously for about 4 hours)

– 1 3/4 cups dates (these you can add to your soaking nuts about 1 hour prior to use)

– 1/4 cup organic shredded coconut

– 1 tbsp. raw honey

– 1/2 tsp cinnamon

– 1/2 tsp nutmeg

For the filling you will need:

– 2 cups raw chopped pumpkin or 1 cup raw chopped pumpkin and 1 cup raw chopped sweet potato

– 1 cup dates

– 1 persimmon

– 2 tbsp. coconut oil

– 2 tbsp. coconut butter

– 2 tbsp. raw honey

– 2 tbsp. organic maple syrup

– 1 inch slice of fresh ginger

– 2 tsp cinnamon

– 2 tsp nutmeg

– 1 tsp turmeric or a 1/2 inch slice of raw turmeric

– 1/4 cup coconut water

For the coconut cashew cream you will need:

-1/2 cup soaked cashews

– 1 whole fresh coconut

– 1/2 cup fresh coconut water (which you will have from your 1 fresh coconut)

– 1 cup fresh coconut meat (about the equivalent of meat from 1 coconut)

– 3 tbsp. raw honey

– 1 tbsp. coconut oil

– 1 tsp vanilla

For the coconut lemon cashew cream you will need:

– 1 cup soaked cashews

– 1/2 cup organic shredded or flaked coconut (or you can do a 1/2 cup raw coconut meat)

– 1/4 cup coconut water

– 2 tbsp. organic maple syrup

– 1 tbsp coconut oil

– 1 tbsp raw honey

– 1 tsp vanilla

– 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest

– juice of 1/2 a lemon

Step 1:

As mentioned above, it is very important to soak your nuts. You can measure out the total amount of nuts that you will need, and put them aside to soak for up to 4 hours:

Step 2:

Add the dates into your pecan and walnut mix, so that they can also be softened. Do this about 1 hour before making the crust. Once the nuts are done soaking, we will start by preparing the crust!

Step 3:

Add your nuts and dates to the food processor first, and blender together until they are thoroughly mixed. Then add the rest of the ingredients together, until everything is fully blended together. The mix should be thick, gooey and moldable in your hands .

Step 4:

Take out your pie pan and scoop out the mixture from the food processor, pressing it into the pan until you have completed a full pie crust layer. Once it is completed, put in your freezer to harden.

Now we will start on the filling!

Step 5:

Take your sweet potato and pumpkin, slice or cube them, and add them to your high powered blender:

Step 6:

Once you have chopped the pumpkin and sweet potato, measure out the coconut oil and butter, and heat it up in a double boiler until it gets to a liquid consistency. This is for blending purposes:

Step 7:

After the coconut oil and butter are liquid, add it to the blender, along with the rest of the filling ingredients. Blend together until everything becomes a creamy, spreadable texture. Your mixture should look something like this:

Step 8:

Take your raw pie crust out of the freezer, and scoop out the mixture into the mold!

Layer your filling evenly in your pie tray and flatten it out. Then put your pie back into the freezer to harder some more

Step 9:

Now let’s get started on our coconut cashew cream!

Drain your soaking cashews, and add it to your high-powered blender.

Step 10:

Take your raw coconut and a large knife. chop the top of it all the way around, making a square like shape in the top:

Continue chopping until you have punctured the coconut to where you can pop out the square top:

Next, pour the juice into a glass or measuring cup:

Chop open the coconut (this is easier lengthwise with these) and then scoop out the meat inside. The meat of 1 coconut usually measures to exactly 1 whole cup of raw coconut meat

Step 11:

Once you have scooped out all of the meat, add it to your blender with the cashews, then add the rest of the ingredients along with it. Blend the mixture until it is smooth and creamy. You will have to start and stop the blender several times, as this mixture will be very thick.

Once it is done, scoop the mixture out into a bowl put into the fridge and let’s get ready to make our next cashew cream!

Step 12: (note: if you plan on making only one cashew cream, simply skip over these next steps, or skip over steps 10 and 11 if you plan to make the lemon coconut one instead of only coconut)

For our lemon cashew cream, the steps are quite simple. Add the soaked cashews, coconut, coconut oil (does not have to be warmed up), coconut water, maple syrup and the rest of the ingredients to your high powered blender.

Blend on high until everything is thoroughly mixed. If you need more sweetener, add more honey. This mix will be thicker and have more texture than the coconut cream. Once it is fully mix, put into a container, top with a lemon and put in the fridge.

Step 13:

Now let’s take out our pie from the freezer, and get ready to top it with some of our delicious cashew cream! I used the coconut cashew cream as a decoration for the top, and I sprinkled the pie with some shredded coconut. You can also use the lemon for the top as well, it’s really up to you!

Step 14:

Put the pie back into the freezer to harden. I personally think it’s better if it sits overnight, but you should at least have it in the freezer for a couple hours.

Step 15:

That’s it! Take it out and eat the pie! This tastes sooo good, the spices are infused into the crust and filling, and the cashew creams make the perfect side or extra topping for the pie!

Please enjoy all the following pictures of my raw pumpkin sweet potato pie!

Enjoy!