Fabulous Fourth of July Pie
Back in my cooked days, I used to make a very tasty Star Spangled Mousse Pie from Taste of Home. It called for a cooked butter pastry shell, semi-sweet and white chocolate, whipping cream, cream cheese, shortening and other... not very healthy ingredients. This raw version of the pie is even more delicious. After all, chocolate can be made raw, and so can pie crusts and fillings!
Ingredients:
For the crust:
- 1 1/2 cups cashews, unsoaked
- 1/4 cup shredded coconut
- 2 T dark agave nectar
- 1 T maple syrup
- 1 T coconut oil
- Pinch salt
For the chocolate layer:
- 3 T melted cacao butter
- 4 T cacao powder, sifted
- 1 T agave nectar
For the cream filling:
This filling is inspired by Matthew Kenney's blueberry and sweet "cream cheese" mini tartlets. I wanted a filling with less nuts, and also less sweeteners and lemon juice as I find these 2 ingredients to be over-emphasized in raw recipes. I also wanted something that would hold at room temperature and didn't need to stay frozen, but without necessarily using lecithin.
- 2 cups cashews, ground
- 1/2 cup young coconut meat, packed
- 2 T lemon juice
- 1/2 cup + 2 T agave nectar
- 3/4 cup liquid coconut oil (regular coconut oil, just melted)
- 2 T coconut water or just water
- 1 1/2 t vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
For the garnish:
- A dozen medium sized, uniform strawberries
- A handful blueberries
Directions:
1) Lightly oil the pie pan with coconut oil, and sprinkle shredded coconut all over it. Set aside.
Blend all the crust ingredients in a food processor, starting with the cashews and coconut and then adding the rest when the cashews are ground to a fine crumb.
2) With a rolling pin, roll out the crust in between cling film until you can fit it into a 9" pie pan. Cut out the extra crust with a butter knife, and use it to patch any cracked area.
3) Set the crust in the freezer while making the chocolate. With a fork, and over a bowl of warm water, mix the cacao butter and powder. Add the agave nectar. The chocolate will not be very sweet, and will be a nice contrast to the sweet, candy like crust. Get the pie crust out of the freezer and spread the chocolate all over the bottom of it. Do it somewhat fast, as it will harden progressively. Set the pie crust back in the freezer.
4) Blend the filling ingredients in a high speed blender until smooth. Your blender will complain, even if it's a Vita-Mix! You want to take a few breaks, and mix the filling with a butter knife every once in a while. When smooth, pour the filling in the pie crust, and smooth the top with a knife or spatula. Set the pie in the freezer for several hours or overnight.
5) The next day, get the pie out of the freezer and decorate it with sliced strawberries and blueberries. Cut it into slices and keep it in the fridge.
You do not have to cut the slices in advance, but the crust will soften a little and it will make the serving process easier. My husband really liked it, and when I said I couldn't manage to make the filling taste like the original cream cheese mousse, he said "it's better than cream cheese!".
