This is the first recipe I created after culinary school and it’s sold at the restaurant where I work today.
Ingredients for Filling:
- 16 ounces of pitted dates soaked in 16 ounces of orange juice
- 12 ounces of walnuts
- ½ cup raw cacao powder (or carob powder)
- ½ cup unsweetened coconut
- 1 Tablespoon alcohol-free vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon orange extract (optional)
Ingredients for BASIC NO BAKE PIE CRUST:
- 2 cups of raw walnuts
- 2 cups of pitted dates
- ¼ cup raw cacao powder
Instructions
- In a food processor fitted with the “S” blade, process the nuts and cacao powder until they are a flour-like consistency. Do not over process or you will have a nut butter.
- Add dates, a few at a time, until the mixture clumps together.
- Stop the machine and if you can easily roll a ball from the mixture and it sticks together you don’t feel to add any more dates.
- Press the crust into a pie plate, torte pan or spring form pan. It’s great just topped with cut up fresh fruits of any kind. You can even roll the mixture into balls and you have healthy cookies. Play around with different spices (like cinnamon or nutmeg), different extracts (like vanilla or almond) and the zest and juice of lemons, limes or oranges.
Chef’s Note: Substitute raw seeds (such as hemp, sesame, pumpkin or sunflower) for all or some of the nuts. Substitute dried fruit (such as apricots, cherries, cranberries, currants, figs, prunes, raisins) for all or some of the dates.