Sayward’s Raw Pumpkin Pie with Chocolate-Kissed Pecan Crust

Sayward’s here today bringing us a raw Autumn awesomeness. Thanks so very much for sharing one fantastical recipe with us all!

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Autumn seems to be the favorite season among food bloggers, don’t you think? We all just sort of spring to life, like little squirrels, shaking off the vitamin-D hangover and taking stock of summers’ bounty. This is the season of stewing and storing; the return to the kitchen (goodbye barbecue – see you next year!). Farmer’s Markets are overflowing and inspiration is everywhere! The leaves turn and then fall, and the rain returns to wash them away, and everything begins to change. There’s nothing quite like a crisp cold wind, biting at your nose, to give you that push you’ll need to busy yourself buttoning down for winter.

So hello, xgfx! Let’s do some autumn uncooking!

Is there anything more quintessentially “autumn” than a good old fashioned pumpkin pie? And by “old fashioned”, of course I mean totally modern and unlike any traditional confection that any pilgrim ever ate (not that they actually ate pumpkin pie, but that’s a whole other story). So this is pumpkin pie redux:  the classic flavors combined with an unconventional preparation. A little bit of old and a little bit of new makes for a healthier treat that’s still a guaranteed to please.

Raw Pumpkin Pie with Chocolate-Kissed Pecan Crust

Ingredients:

Crust –

1 1/2 cups pecans
1 cup pitted dates, soaked at least an hour
1/2 shredded coconut
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
1 tablespoon raw cacao powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Filling –

2 cups cashews, soaked at least 2 hours
1 cup fresh pumpkin juice + juice of 1 carrot
1/2 cup agave syrup
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves

Instructions:

Combine all crust ingredients in a food processor and pulse to blend, scraping down the sides as needed. Don’t over mix it; you want it a bit crumbly. Use a bit of coconut oil to grease a pie pan, and then press the crust mixture into the pan. There might be some extra. You can save it to sprinkle on top of the pie as a sort of “crumble”, but I highly recommend eating it immediately. Pie making is hard work and you’ll need to keep your strength up!

Place the crust in the freezer and allow it to ‘set up’ for at least an hour. In the meantime, juice the pumpkin (rind and all!) and carrot. Don’t forget to save the pulp, which will make an awesome base for soup or muffins or whatever other pumpkiny goodness you can imagine. Also, if you don’t have an electric juicer, no worries: all you need is a food processor or blender.

Combine all the filling ingredients in a food processor or blender and crank that sucker, pausing every so often to scrape down the sides. You want the filling to be as smooth as possible, so blend the bejeezus out of it.

Remove the crust from the freezer and carefully add the filling, then refreeze the whole thing for a minimum of 2 hours. After this initial freeze the pie can be stored in the refrigerator. It will keep in there, covered with plastic wrap, for about a week. But yeah right. It ain’t gonna last that long.

Happy autumn!