My First Recipe! Raw Pecan Pie

Yes friends, I have developed my first recipe with the help of my wonderful wife. One of my favorite desserts of all time has been pecan pie. I remember as a boy going to my Grandma's house for Thanksgiving. She would bake 2-3 of them for the holiday and set them on top of her refrigerator to cool. She baked them 3 days in advance and I would spend hours just staring at the edges of that buttery crust waiting for a slice. Only slightly less painful than seeing presents under the tree days before Christmas and not being able to open them. Well, when we decided to only eat raw desserts my heart wept a little at the thought of no more pecan pie. I'm sure there are other recipes out there but I've made enough raw pies to have a pretty good idea of how various ingredients work. So I set about on a trial and error run to make my very own recipe for pecan pie. Well, it only took two tries! I guess we're getting pretty good at this. After my first pie my wife and I discussed what worked and what didn't. We talked about what a regular pecan pie has going for it and how to best recreate that in a raw way. The result has had a great response. My supervisor at my internship loved it and my wife's co-worker has demanded the recipe. And now I share it with all of you, my raw friends.

Muffin's Raw Pecan Pie
Use the Walnut crust from the Apple Pie and Chocolate Mousse Tort recipe.

Filling;
2 cups dates (soaked 20-30 minutes)
1 cup Raisins (Soaked 20-30 minutes)
2 cups Pecans
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 TBS Agave
1/2 cup coconut water (you can use regular water if you choose)

Blend the dates, raisins, vanilla, cinnamon, and agave in the blender fitted with the S blade until smooth. Slowly add the water until you get a creamy consistency.
Scoop the filling into the pie crust smoothing it out.
Evenly spread out the pecans on top.
Chill for at least one hour before serving.

Enjoy and Be Healthy!

Blueberry Ice Cream

That's right, raw ice cream and it's yummy. The best thing about this recipe is that unlike many other raw ice creams, this doesn't lose the consistency of regular ice cream. Most raw ice creams will freeze solid, that's why it's usually best to eat it all at once, fresh out of the maker. Not that that's a bad thing, eating a whole dish of fruit is never bad. But if you don't have room for it all, or you're the kind of person who likes to make it ahead of time, then you'll have to let raw ice cream thaw for at 20 minutes before it's ready to scoop. Even then you wont have the consistency you had when it first comes out of the ice cream maker. But this recipe does, and the only reason I can find is the cashews. I've used fruit and agave before and it freezes solid, but I think the cashews give this recipe what it needs to remain soft. In fact I would recommend you make this ahead of time and freeze it at least one hour before serving. When we first had it out of the ice cream maker it was a little softer than soft serve. Still good, just really soft. But when we had left overs the next day it had the texture of actual ice cream(see photos).
The recipe is an adaptation from "Vice Cream" by Jeff Rogers. All these recipes need are an ice cream maker and a blender, some require a juicer but I think with many of those recipes you can just blend up the fruit, especially if you have a good blender.

Blueberry Ice Cream
-2 cups blueberries
-1 cup chopped blueberries
-3 TBS Cocao Nibs(optional)
-1 cup raw cashews
-1/2 cup Agave (or 1 cup pure maple syrup)
-1 TBS vanilla
-1/8 tsp Almond Flavor (optional)

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. About 1 minute
Set blender in refrigerator for at least 1 hour to over night, or in freezer for 40 minutes to 1 hour, to chill.
Pour mix into ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturers instructions.
When there is five minutes left to freeze in ice cream maker add the the chopped blueberries and optional Cocao nibs.
If ice cream does not have desired consistency after freezing in ice cream maker then pour ice cream into a freezer safe container and place in freezer again for about 1 hour to overnight.
As stated earlier this ice cream maintains it's consistency so it's a great dessert to make ahead of time so that after dinner you scoop it up right away and enjoy.

Chocolate Truffles

We got this recipe from our friend Victoria Boutenko's book "12 Steps to Raw Foods". http://www.amazon.com/12-Steps-Raw-Foods-Dependency/dp/1556436513/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266266195&sr=8-3
She calls them Sergei's Amazing Truffles. These are great for either dessert or a travel snack. They're small so you can easily pack them in a lunch for easy snacking or enjoy them after dinner. We like to cover them in either carob or coconut, but you can top with fresh fruit or whatever strikes your fancy. It's a pretty easy recipe with few ingredients, just be prepared to get your hands dirty, but don't worry, these make for guilt free bowl licking when you're done.

Chocolate Truffles;
1 cup Raw Walnuts
1/2 cup pitted dates
1/4 cup young coconut water(you can also use regular water if you like)
4 TBS Raw Carob

Blend the dates and walnuts in a food processor until smooth.
In a bowl mix in the carob and coconut water. Shape the mixture into small balls and roll in carob or coconut.

Usually makes around 8-12 truffles.

Yab Yum Elixer

This sensuous beverage was given to us by our good friend and manifesting mentor, Ayanna Mojica. The blend of cocoa, or carob, and coconut create a wonderfully sensuous treat for a romantic night in. For those who do not know, carob is a fruit that is dried and powdered. It has a flavor very close to cocoa, but since it is a fruit it is a low glycemic index food. If you've never used carob before, a fair warning. It smells quite bad. In fact your first instinct will be that someone has passed gas, but the smell goes away after you use it and it's very delicious.

To open the young coconut;
Set the coconut on a stable cutting surface.
Using a large butcher knife cut off the top of the coconut so that you can easily drain the water inside. I have tried several ways and the one that works best for me is to rotate the coconut as I bring the knife down into the topside. This allows me to chop a hole in the top of the coconut without spilling water. (See above photo) You can also google, 'opening a young coconut' to find other methods.
After you have drained the water you can now scoop out the meat. If your hole is too small to scoop you can use the knife to cut it in half to make scooping easier.

Yab Yum Elixer:
The meat of two young coconuts
The water of one young coconut (save the water from the second one for smoothies, or other desserts that call for coconut water. I'll be posting one soon.)
1 tsp of vanilla
3 TBS of raw agave nectar or pure maple syrup
2 TBS of raw cocoa or carob powder

Place all ingredients into a high powered blender and blend well (Approx 30 Sec)

You can also 1 to 1 1/2 cups of ice to make it more milkshake-like.

Yield: about 26 ounces - 30 ounces with ice