Raw Vegan Peach Pie

Raw Vegan Peach Pie

Ingredients

Filling

1 cup raw cashews

3-4 fresh peaches, pits removed (about 3 cups of roughly chopped peaches)

1/4 cup agave nectar

1 tsp vanilla powder, or about 1/3 of a vanilla bean

Dash cinnamon

Dash himalayan salt

1/4-1/2 cup filtered water, as needed

Crust

1 1/4 cups raw pecans

1/4-1/3 cup raw pine nuts

Approximately 10 dates, pitted

Pinch himalayan or sea salt

Optional: pinch cinnamon

Topping

1 fresh peach, sliced

*note: amounts are approximate, as I didn't really measure as I went along (oops). One of the best things about raw food is that you don't need to measure- just add ingredients and keep tasting along the way. When it tastes great, you're ready!

Method

Prep

Soak raw cashews in filtered water for approximately 4 hours

For the crust

Place pecans, pine nuts, and salt in food processor and pulse a couple of times to roughly mix nuts and salt. Add dates and pulse a few more times until mixture resembles a coarse meal, something like this:

You are looking for a mixture that is somewhat dry and crumbly, but will stick together if you press it between your fingers. You want just enough stickiness that it will hold together when you press it in a pie plate. If it won't hold together when you squeeze it between your fingers, just add 1-2 dates at a time until it is the right consistency. Try not to overly process, rough and crumbly is what you want.

Put pecan mixture in a glass pie plate and use your fingertips to press evenly into the plate. That's it! Set aside.

For the filling 

Roughly chop 3-4 fresh peaches. Be sure to remove all pits. You can peel them if you want. I left the skins on and they were great. p.s. I advocate organic peaches, especially if you are leaving skins on.

Note: this is a whole lotta peaches- for multiple recipes. You won't need this many for just the pie :)

Put peaches, agave, soaked cashews, vanilla, salt and cinnamon in VitaMix or high speed blender and process until smooth. The mixture will be thick, like a pudding. If it is difficult to blend, add a little filtered water to get it going. Not too much water, though, or you'll wind up with a smoothie instead of a pie filling :)

Pour pie filling into prepared crust: 

This is quite a challenge while simultaneously trying to take a photo, heh heh. You would have been quite amused to see me juggling the camera and blender ;) 

Top with fresh sliced peaches:

Cover, and freeze for a few hours for the pie to firm up. It slices beautifully when frozen. Frozen slices taste much like an ice cream pie, but if you let the frozen slice sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes, it has a delicious, creamy texture that I like even better. Mmmmm!

Enjoy!

More info on health benefits of: peaches, cashews, dates, dates, pecans, pine nuts.