Stefani Pollack of Cupcake Project is a food (or should we say dessert?) blogger in St. Louis, Missouri, where she lives with her husband and son. She has been baking and blogging since 2007, when she left the corporate world to be a full-time mom, writer, photographer, conference planner and recipe developer. Stefani can usually be found hula-hooping or baking something new in the kitchen, but she’s also on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+.
All winter long, my son tries to spot bunnies in an empty neighborhood field. “Soon,” I tell him. “We need to wait for spring.” When spring comes, we hop up and down (like the bunnies) and stare as the fluffy-tailed creatures scamper about.
Bunny sightings lead to talk of carrots, which leads to my carrot cupcakes (with a blog called Cupcake Project, it shouldn’t surprise you that I typically make cupcakes rather than cakes). This year, however, I’m on a pie kick. Cupcakes are fun, cute, and sometimes sassy, while pies are typically homey, comforting, and full of love. So, I decided to make carrot pie.
I fashioned my carrot pie after sweet potato pie (my all-time favorite pie), using roasted carrots instead of pureed sweet potatoes. However, I wanted to pull one of carrot cake’s best elements, the cream cheese frosting, into the pie. To accomplish this, I gave the pie a cheesecake layer.
If you didn’t guess from the fact that I tackled carrot pie, I’m not the most traditional pie maker. One of my favorite areas of pie baking is experimenting with the crust (I recently baked a crust made out of potato chips). I gave the carrot pie a pecan and brown sugar crust with a touch of ginger and lemon. Even if you don’t try the carrot pie, I’d suggest trying this crust. It would be a wonderful foundation for apple pie.
The Hamilton Beach Stack & Snap™ 10 Cup Food Processor made baking this pie a breeze. I used it to puree the roasted carrots (it’s so fun to drop them down the chute and watch them whiz around the bowl). I also used the food processor to chop the pecans – the food processor is a major time saver.
Carrot Pie
Ingredients
Instructions
For the roasted carrots
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Line carrots in a single layer in a baking dish.
- Drizzle with oil and toss to evenly coat.
- Bake for 90 minutes or until carrots are soft.
For the pecan crust
- Leave oven on at 350°F.
- Grease a 9” pie pan.
- Mix all crust ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
- Press crust into and up the sides of the pie pan.
- Poke a few holes in the crust with a fork.
- Bake for 8 minutes.
For the cheesecake filling
- Mix cream cheese and sugar together until light and fluffy.
- Mix in egg, salt and vanilla.
- Pour into pre-baked crust and spread with a spatula or a knife until even.
For the carrot filling
- Reduce oven temperature to 325°F.
- Puree the roasted carrots in the food processor until the pieces are very finely chopped.
- Remove the roasted carrots from the food processor and measure 2 cups + 3 tablespoons of carrots. Return the measured quantity to the food processor. Save any excess to throw on a salad.
- Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl of the food processor and puree.
- Pour carrot filling over cheesecake filling.
- Bake for 70 minutes or until the edge of the carrot filling is set but the center of the pie is still a bit jiggly.
- Turn the oven off and leave the pie in the oven to cool for one hour.
- Refrigerate until ready to slice and eat.
Whether you are cooking for two or prepping a large family meal, the Hamilton Beach® Stack & Snap™ 10 Cup Food Processor takes the guesswork out of food processing with a simple function guide that shows you which blade to use and which button to press. Designed to be uniquely simple – there’s no twisting, turning or locking required when assembling the food processor.
How do you finish carrot pie recipe ?Do you bake it at325 ,for how long?
How long do you bake carrot pie after puree is put on top of cheesecake layer ?
I have never heard of carrot pie! I will have to try this! Would love to win the food processor!
Hi Jody, we are currently working to fix the issue with our recipe formatting. Until then, here is the rest of the recipe:
For the roasted carrots…
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Line carrots in a single layer in a baking dish.
Drizzle with oil and toss to evenly coat.
Bake for 90 minutes or until carrots are soft.
For the pecan crust…
Leave oven on at 350°F.
Grease a 9” pie pan.
Mix all crust ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
Press crust into and up the sides of the pie pan.
Poke a few holes in the crust with a fork.
Bake for 8 minutes.
For the cheesecake filling…
Mix cream cheese and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Mix in egg, salt and vanilla.
Pour into pre-baked crust and spread with a spatula or a knife until even.
For the carrot filling…
Reduce oven temperature to 325°F.
Puree the roasted carrots in the food processor until the pieces are very finely chopped.
Remove the roasted carrots from the food processor and measure 2 cups + 3 tablespoons of carrots. Return the measured quantity to the food processor. Save any excess to throw on a salad.
Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl of the food processor and puree.
Pour carrot filling over cheesecake filling.
Bake for 70 minutes or until the edge of the carrot filling is set but the center of the pie is still a bit jiggly.
Turn the oven off and leave the pie in the oven to cool for one hour.
Refrigerate until ready to slice and eat.