Easy as Pie.

Surely some of you remember the ubiquitous chocolate pie. Your mom or some other relative may have brought it to a family gathering. It consisted of a pre-made pie shell filled with chocolate pudding and topped with whipped cream. The ultimate "I don't have time to make a dessert from scratch" dessert.

I present you with the raw version. It's more than slightly better.

This came about from a sense of desperation on Friday night when I realized that once again, my Irish moss experiment was a no-go. I've got to e-mail Café Gratitude and ask what I'm doing wrong. So my grand plans for lemon meringue pie were shot, and I had to think fast. I had a pie shell ready, made of 1/2 almonds and 1/2 mac nuts, and I did what I had to do.

I made Aunt [insert name here]'s lazy chocolate pie. Only here, I'm going to call it Easy as Pie.

You can make this in no time, kiddies.



Even topless, this pie is a delicious temptress. Wait. Does that sound dirty?


Easy as Pie

Crust

• 1 cup Macadamia nuts
• 1 1/4 Almonds
• sea salt
• 1/2 t dried orange peel (optional; I had put this in for the lemon meringue pie and it give it a nice little zing)

Blend ingredients until nuts are ground to a fine consistency. Mac nuts have a lot of oil, so be careful this doesn't turn into nut butter. Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Press mixture into a pie pan (I used a glass one, and I greased it lightly with coconut oil first). Put into the freezer.

Pie filling

• 3-4 avocadoes
• 2-3 T raw cacao powder
• 10-13 dates, soaked and pitted
• 1/2 t salt
• 2T coconut cream or oil
• 1 vanilla bean, scraped (or 1 t vanilla extract)

These are all approximations, as I was really just making this by eye and taste. Put the avos in first, then the rest of the ingredients. Blend. All of the green from the avos goes away. When you have a luscious dark color, start tasting. Add more dates if necessary, or use agave. The lovely thing about avos is that they have such a standup, creamy consistency that sets quite well. The coconut cream/oil really helps that out, too. Blend, blend, and try not to eat half of it. Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Pour into pie shell and set in the fridge.

Whipped topping

• meat of 1 or 2 young coconuts
• 1/2 cup macadamia nuts
• 1 T coconut cream
• agave to taste
• 1/8 t salt
• 1 t arrowroot powder (optional; I used this because my Irish moss betrayed me. I find the arrowroot to be a nice binder, but you can just make this without).
  

Put in FP, blend until very creamy. Put into container in the fridge and let set up a bit; this makes spreading over the pie much easier.

Toppings
You are limited only by your imagination. I ground up some cacao nibs and put those on top, then did a layer of strawberries. Here's the final product. Sorry for the highly unprofessional, mostly eaten pie shot. I totally forgot to snap it and we had already descended upon this like raw vultures. But you get the idea.



I apologize for the blurry picture. My hands were shaking from pie lust.

Next time you're invited to the neighborhood block party, or one of those painful family events that leave you feeling like your sphincter is permanently clenched, bring one of these pies. Don't even tell people it's raw. They'll eat it with a smile and wonder why it tastes so much better than the chocolate pie they remember. Not that there's anything wrong with that...

xoxo

SIDEBOARD
If you want to get your raw Martha Stewart on (I cannot believe I just typed that), prepare a bunch of raw pie shells ahead of time. Using disposable tin pie pans, make a bunch, cover them tightly and freezer-proof. Next time you have a last-minute dessert to make, you can pull out a pie shell and you're halfway there.

Chocogasm Pie and the Raw Love-in

What's the best way to stay raw?
Surround yourself with inspiration. I've chosen to do that in the form of attending raw potlucks, trying tons of new recipes, and staying prepared by bringing plenty of raw stuff to work with me. If I don't give myself a reason to go off raw, I won't. And some of the things I've been making have made me giddy with food lust.

This past weekend I hosted a raw potluck at my house. If you aren't already on meetup.com, try it out. You could find a raw group in your area that you didn't even know about. Potlucks are great. You can meet new friends, try new dishes, and spend time with some very wonderful people who are all in the same raw boat. The conversations seem a lot more open, deep and lively than any I've had at parties with cooked food and tons of booze.

Beyond the beauty of hanging with raw peeps, I have to do some blog braggin. I created a dessert that is the most amazing one I've made yet. Honestly, I want to marry me. And though I tend to make food in a very Zen way--not measuring, just going by taste, texture and visual--I'm going to attempt to recreate the recipe for you. Just remember to keep tasting what you're making. That's the best way to make good food. And to get chocolate all over your face like a kid.

Victoria's Chocogasm Pie

Crust
I used the same crust from my banana/coconut cream pie. See post. However, you can sub any nuts you prefer. I think hazelnuts and chocolate are an ideal match. I also made the crust have a bit of salty tang to really complement the dark cacao. For this recipe, I put the crust in a large springform pan, just on the bottom, not rising up on the sides.

First Layer That's right. This pie has layers.

• Meat of 3-4 young coconuts. Reserve coconut water
• 2 cups of cashews, soaked overnight and rinsed
• 1 heaping Tbsp of maca
• 3 Tbsp of raw cacao powder-add more to taste
• 1/4 cup agave-again, add more to taste
• 1 tsp lecithin granules
• sea salt to taste
• 2 Tbsp coconut oil
  

Put the coconut in a food processor and blend. Add in the cashews and blend until smooth, adding a bit of the reserved coconut water if necessary. You want to maintain a thick consistency, yet not lumpy.

Add the remaining ingredients. Keep tasting. The pie should have a dark, chocolatey taste that makes you want to stick your head in the bowl and eat it all.

Pour the layer into your springform pan. If you don't have one, you can just use a regular pie pan. Put into the freezer.

Second Layer

• 1/2 or 1 cup raw almond butter, depending on how thick you want this to be
  
• 3 Tbsp coconut oil
• 2 or 3 Tbsp raw cacao powder to taste
• agave to taste
• sea salt to taste

Blend ingredients thoroughly in the food processor, until mix achieves a consistency like dark chocolate icing. This is a ganache kinda deal, but not. It's a Ganot.

Set mixture in the fridge for a bit if it's not thick enough, or just add more almond butter.

Pour mixture onto first layer. I waited until the first layer was really set well. Spread evenly, return to freezer.

Third Layer

• Meat of two coconuts; I opened quite a few and used the more pudding-like meat for this.
• Agave to taste
• Vanilla to taste
• 1/2 tsp Arrowroot powder (If you don't have this, don't sweat it. You can add some thickness with coconut oil)

Blend in mini food processor, regular food processor or blender. Pour mixture into plastic bag. Cut off the tip and squeeze mixture onto top of pie.

Top off pie with sprinkle of cacao nibs.

It seems like a lot of work, but in reality, I made this pie in under an hour.

Rawk on!

xo

PS: With all of that leftover coconut water, I strained it, put it in a big pitcher, and put in frozen strawberries as ice cubes. Fantastic drink that everyone was diggin on. :)