Raw Strawberry Macadamia Pie with Chocolate Chia Crust

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.

Chocolate Chia Crackers

I am so excited about this little recipe.   What a treat, chocolate crackers that are high in protein, iron, calcium, and omega 3s. In my opinion, they have a taste like an Oreo cookie. I couldn't believe it when I read the recipe over and realized it was dehydrated pudding.  I couldn't wait to see how they would turn out.  I liked them so much, I immediately made another batch. I took a bag of crackers over to share with Rachel and her first words were "This would be great for a pie crust." What an awesome idea.  For our Thanksgiving dessert I used them as a pie crust for a raw strawberry pie.  The crust was tender, but not so moist you didn't know it was crust.  The next time I make this recipe with the idea of using it as a crust, I'll make it a little thicker.

This recipe calls for making hazelnut milk to use in the mix, but you can substitute with cashews, almonds, or macadamia nuts or any non dairy milk.  I used some millet milk and almond milk in my second batch and it worked out just fine.  Organic cocoa powder works well if cacao powder isn't available.

Chocolate Chia Crackers
   Fills 2 Dehydrator trays

Ingredients 

 - 1 cup chia seeds, depending on how thick you like your puddings
- ½ cup raw cacao powder
- 3 T + ½ cup agave nectar
- 1 cup raw hazelnuts, almonds, cashews, or macadamia nuts
- 1 ½ t pure vanilla extract
- 2 T raw coconut oil
- Celtic sea salt

Directions
- Blend the hazelnuts with 3 cups water and 3 T agave. Strain the liquid through a nut milk bag or cheesecloth to remove the fiber. (I don't strain if I use cashews or macadamia nuts)

Mix 2 cups of hazelnut milk with the chia seeds. Let stand, stirring occasionally.

- Blend the remaining 1 cup of hazelnut milk with the cacao powder, agave nectar, vanilla extract and coconut oil, along with a dash of sea salt. Mix in the soaked chia seeds, and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

- Spread the pudding onto 2 lined dehydrator sheets, and dehydrate for about 4 hours, or until you can flip the crackers on a mesh tray. If desired, score the crackers into small pieces. Dehydrate overnight, and keep the crackers in a sealed bag in the fridge. They will stay fresh for a couple of weeks.

Here's a look at what I did with them for Thanksgiving.  The crust isn't quite even as I didn't plan on using them as a crust.  But, when Rachel mentioned it, it sounded so right.  Next time I'll not score the crackers and make it a little thicker for a raw pie crust.  The crackers softened a bit under the pie, but were still firm enough to slice like a crust.

 Raw Strawberry Macadamia Creme Pie with Chocolate Chia Cracker Crust

Dairy Free - Lemon, Pinneapple, and Mango Creme Pie

I have been thinking about lemon meringue pie, I used to love it. It is one of my favorite flavors. I had planned on making one yesterday and started looking for alternatives for a healthier version. Lemon Meringue Pie really is just sugar, corn starch, and lemon juice. The Meringue is egg whites and sugar. I really don't want to eat egg whites or that much sugar. Even one of my favorite vegetarian cookbooks I have asked for 1½ cups of sugar for the filling and 1/2 cup + 1 tsp cornstarch. I need to change that and get the same or similar flavors. I used a little honey and agave, but then there is the volume to make up so I added more fruit. Before you know it, I had a tropical fruit pie. This is also a raw food, there wasn't any cooking except to dissolve the agar powder.

Crust

I made the crust with 1½ cups raw almonds soaked for an hour or more and 6 medjool dates and about a tablespoon of agave. Blend almonds, dates, and agave together in food processor until there is a mold-able texture. Sprinkle coconut shreds or flakes on the bottom of a pie plate and mold into a crust in the pie pan.

Filling

1 cup raw cashews soaked for an hour or more
3/4 cup coconut milk, more or less depending on texture
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice and zest from two lemons
A small pineapple chopped, chop about 1 cup into bite size and set aside
2 mangos, 1 for the blender, 1 diced into bite size pieces and set aside with pineapple
2 TB Local Honey, or to taste
1 TB Agar powder dissolved in 1 cup boiling water, cooled slightly

Put all the ingredients above in the blender except the chunks of pineapple and mango and the dissolved Agar powder. Puree until smooth and then add to chunks of fruit in large bowl, stir in dissolved Agar. Pour into pie crust. The pie filling will set in a very short time in the refrigerator.

Tofu Whipped Topping
"The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook," page 101

1 cup soft tofu
1/4 cup oil (I used sunflower oil)
2 TB honey, preferably local
1 TB lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla  (I used fresh vanilla bean, scrape insides)
dash of salt

Blend until smooth and creamy, scraping sides of blender. Whip a little just before serving if needed.

This pie is very similar to our daily smoothie, blended fruit. The addition of the raw cashews and almonds add fiber and protein. This is a meal, not just dessert. We had it for breakfast this morning.