Making pie crust with the chocolate chia seed crackers was so intriguing to me, I quickly took some strawberries out of the freezer. I had some macadamia nuts in the fridge just waiting for the right recipe. I don't buy them often but thought we could have a nice treat for Thanksgiving. One of those items I love that are in the bulk section because I can buy a small amount. This was not only a good recipe, but with dates for sweetener, bananas, fresh frozen strawberries, and raw nuts, it made a great breakfast too. After all, the day after Thanksgiving, pie most often finds it's way to breakfast around here. This pie isn't too far from what I'd put in the blender for a morning smoothie.
The chocolate chia seed crackers are not crisp like a flax cracker. They are firm, but have some pliability about them. It was easy to mold them around a pie plate into a crust. You can use raw cashews in place of the Macadamia nuts. I used regular dates found in any bulk section of the grocery store. If you're using Med Jool dates, they tend to be a bit larger, I would decrease the dates to seven or eight. This is a very versatile recipe. You can also replace the fruit with any fruit or berry you like.
Strawberry Macadamia Nut Creme Filling
3 cups frozen strawberries, thawed (two 10 packages)
2 medium bananas
12 dates, pitted
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 cup macadamia nuts
1 TB Agar powder
1 Cup boiling water
Place strawberries, bananas, dates, lemon zest, and nuts in a blender and blend for 20 to 30 seconds or until smooth and thick. If you don't have a high speed blender like a Blendtec or VitaMix you can still make this pie. Just soak your macadamia nuts for an hour and blend. It will work, it just may take a little longer.
Whisk the agar powder in the hot boiling water and stir until dissolved. Add the agar to the blended berry mixture and blend for about 5 seconds.
Pour the whole mixture into the pie crust and chill until firm, about two hours.
I served mine with some strawberry sauce and a little rice whipped creme. We really liked this dessert, it's light, sweet and tangy, and very refreshing.
This is a very easy Vegan Fusion recipe from the Vegan World Fusion Cuisine, my first vegan cookbook and the one that really got me excited about plant based cooking.
Simso's Strawberry Sauce
1 Cup strawberries, fresh or frozen
7 TB filtered water
1 TB Agave, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, or sucanat
1 tsp Mirin
1/2 tsp Mint
Pinch Cardamom powder
Pinch Cinnamon Powder
Place strawberries and filtered water in a small saute pan and heat over low heat until strawverries strt to break apart, approxmately 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add remaining ingredients and stir well.
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