If you love pumpkin pie and its close cousin, ‘Sweet Potato’ Pie, I think you’ll loooove this yummy carrot pie. It’s creamy and lightly spiced with a touch of cardamom, maple syrup, and brown butter. Plus it’s healthy since it’s made with carrots. Which means you can have a couple of slices guilt-free–since your eyesight depends on it and all!

Most people love carrot cake. It’s one of the most popular desserts on any restaurant menu for good reason. But if you ask anyone if they want to try a Carrot Pie, they’ll probably look at you like you have 3 heads. It’s okay for a cake to be made with carrots, so why not a pie? Right?

This Carrot Pie is sweeter than a pumpkin pie, but the key is roasting the carrots for the best flavour. Then you add some spices (cinnamon, cardamon and nutmeg), maple syrup, cream and brown butter–which takes it to the next level (doesn’t brown butter take everything to the next level?). Before serving, I topped each slice with some coconut whip and a light sprinkling of cinnamon & cardamom.

It’s so similar to pumpkin pie that you might be hard-pressed to tell the difference. Some of my friends (aka guinea pigs) didn’t even know it wasn’t pumpkin pie since it looks just like it and has a similar taste. But they knew it was slightly different from their ‘usual’ pumpkin pie.

I first made a Carrot Pie last year when my Aunt Colleen and I were chatting about pies, and she told me about all the unique pies she used to eat all the time when she was young (she’s in her 80s!), such as raisin pie, butterscotch pie and carrot pie. Since I’d never even heard of a carrot pie, I couldn’t wait to try it. Later on, I found a recipe in one of my mom’s old cookbooks which included a recipe for a carrot pie. I mostly followed the recipe (with a few minor changes) and then brought the pie over to her place so we could share a couple of slices along with a cup of tea.

We really enjoyed it, and we both thought it tasted very similar to pumpkin pie (maybe a wee bit sweeter), but I definitely still preferred the pumpkin.

Just recently, however, I decided to try another carrot pie but with a few more additions to the recipe that I’d found in the book and also online (there aren’t too many, and they are all fairly similar). It turned out fabulously! Instead of boiling the carrots and mashing them, as most of the recipes called for, I decided to roast them. I also added maple syrup, cinnamon and brown butter, and a couple of teaspoons of cardamom. Besides the carrot puree, I added a small scoop of pumpkin to give the filling a bit more texture. But if you don’t have any pureed fresh pumpkin or a can of pumpkin handy, you can just leave it out. I had some leftover from my pumpkin dog treats and had just wanted to use it up. I was definitely more impressed with this version of a Carrot Pie. So yummy!

I’m sharing this carrot pie recipe today for the #24carrotgoals party– a Carrot Collaboration on Instagram that I’m a part of along with several other fabulous food bloggers & Instagrammers. If you’ve got a few bags of carrots sitting in the fridge and you’re looking to make a few new delicious appetizers, meals, or desserts with carrots (there’s a couple of great carrot cake recipes to try—but only after you make my carrot pie, of course! haha), you need to check these out. See the end of this post (below recipe) for the links to my fellow bloggers’ awesome carrot recipes, or search the hashtag #24carrotgoals on IG (or on one of the two links below) for dozens of fabulous carrot recipes. A huge thank you to Rebecca & Ruth of Square Meal Round Table & Annie of What Annie’s Eating for organizing this collaboration and also for including me :D. I can’t wait to check out all the awesome recipes!

I hope you guys get a chance to make this Carrot Pie, and please let me know what you think if you do make it. Don’t eat it all at once though, or you may end up with Superman’s X-Ray Vision haha (See! you just knew I had to geek up this post somehow hehe).

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Dana xo

Carrot Pie with Maple & Cardamon

A delicious spiced cream pie made with freshly roasted carrots, maple syrup and cardamon

Ingredients

1 partially baked blind-baked Pie shell (homemade or storebought)
Carrot Filling
2 cups roasted & pureed carrots roasting isn't necessary but it adds lots of flavour
1/3--1/2 cup fresh or canned pumpkin--(not pie filling_
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh nutmeg
1 to 2 teaspoons cardamon depending on how much you like this spice
3/4 cup brown sugar (or coconut sugar)
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 egg yolks plus 1 egg
3 Tablespoons brown butter or regular butter
1/2 cup full-fat cream or coconut cream
1 cup milk reg, almond, cashew, coconut
1 teaspoons vanilla bean extract
pinch of sea salt and black pepper

Instructions

Roll out your favourite pie dough and put it into a 9" pie plate, or skip if using a store-bought pie crust. If you're making your own crust, after rolling out and placing in pie plate, place in freezer for at least half an hour before baking to reduce likelihood of shrinking. Then blind-bake the crust (without filling, and using pie weights) for about 20-30 minutes at 300F. This will help prevent a soggy bottom. Allow crust to cool completely before filling.
For the best flavour, roast carrots (I use about 8-10 medium carrots) for the puree. Let cool slightly and then add the carrots to a large saucepan, along with pumpkin (if using), brown sugar, maple syrup, butter, spices and salt & pepper. Mix well and cook for a few minutes over medium heat just to combine.
Add the mix to a blender and mix until fairly smooth. Then add cream, milk, and eggs. Blend at the lowest speed just to combine filling. You don't want to over-mix once you add the eggs and cream. Then add cornstarch and give it another quick whirl.
Once the crust is cool, scoop the filling into the crust and place in the oven at 375F for about 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350F and bake for another 40-50 minutes--or just until the middle is just slightly jiggly. It will cook for a bit longer after it's out of the oven. Cool at room temperature for an hour and then cover and refrigerate....preferably overnight--- but at least for a few hours. Enjoy with some whipped cream or coconut whip