Banana Cream Pie | Raederle's Raw Recipe

Banana Cream Pie

Consists of "nut bread," "banana cream," and coconut garnish.

The first thing we'll need to do is make nut pulp, which is actually a side effect of making nut milk. Preferably you'll soak the nuts and seeds overnight, but they can be soaked for as little as twenty minutes and still allow for some benefit.

Making Nut Pulp

Soak nuts and seeds in a container over night in the fridge in drinking water.
While the variety is quite variable, here are good amounts:

Nut Milk:

• 1 cup almonds
• ¾ cup cashews
• ¼ cup sunflower seeds
• 2 tablespoons flax seeds
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 2 Brazil nuts

This mix will provide diversity of nutrition without compromising flavor and texture. (Always drain and rinse nuts/seeds/grains with drinking water before using.)

1. Put soaked, drained and rinsed nuts and seeds into your blender. Use about three parts water, one part nuts and seeds. In this case, we're using about 2¼ cups nuts/seeds and thereby want 6¾ cups drinking water.
2. Blend until smooth.
3. Squeeze through a muslin-weave bag or cheesecloth. I find it easier to use a muslin-weave organic cotton bag. I find cheesecloth cumbersome by comparison.

Have the nut milk on raw granola, over sliced peaches or just drink it straight. You can save nut milk for up to three days within your fridge in a glass container. I advise consuming it immediately for best flavor and nutritional value.

What's left in your muslin bag is the nut pulp. You may dump it directly from the bag into the food processor.

Nut-bread Crust:

• 1½ cups nut and seed pulp
• 5-10 dried mulberries or 2 dates
• 20 dried currant berries or 2 figs
• ⅛ teaspoon vanilla powder
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• ¼ cup coconut shreds
• ¼ cup coconut oil (gently melted; it melts at 76°F)

Melting Coconut Oil

1. Put ¼ cup and ⅓ cup coconut oil in a bowl together (for both crust and filling) or in a glass jar.
2. Fill a larger bowl with hot tap water.
3. Put the container carefully into the hot water to warm the oil through the glass.
4. Tap water at its hottest generally will melt coconut oil within ten minutes using this method.

Note: Coconut oil melts at 76°F and isn't cooked until at least 105°F, so there is no reason to cook it in the process of melting it.

Making Crust

Put all ingredients in the food processor and blend until you have a lumpy crumbly dough-like texture.

Extract from food processor with a flexible baking spatula and apply to a plate or dish.

Create whatever shape you like. Because the filling is quite thick, rounding up the edges is not as important with this dish as with some of my other desserts.

Banana Cream Filling:

• 1 fresh banana
• ½ frozen banana
• 1 slice frozen mango
• 1 slice frozen pear
• ¼ cup coconut shreds
• ⅓ cup coconut oil (gently melted)
• 1 pinch vanilla powder

Making Banana Cream

1. Put all ingredients in the food processor and blend until smooth.
2. Taste and add more frozen banana if it needs to be thicker or sweeter.

Making Banana Cream Pie

1. Pour banana cream onto nut bread.
2. Garnish with a sprinkle of raw coconut shreds. Raspberries, mint leaves or goji berries would also make lovely garnish.
3. Serve to friends and family and wow their taste buds.

Thanks for checking this out. Let me know what you think.

Be brave and treat yourself to something delicious, raw and awesome!

~ Raederle

Photos by Raederle Phoenix October 2010