Vegan. Thanksgiving. Dessert. Three words when said together USED to strike fear into the hearts of holidays guests the world over. UNTIL NOW! I wanted to make a vegan pecan pie for the holidays because I have a freezer full of pecans from my in-laws in Georgia. Yep – they shelled every single one of them by hand! But I wanted to steer away from the usual butter – cream – sugar situation, and create something a little healthier. Don’t get me wrong, this is NOT a sugar-free pecan pie because the dates and brown rice syrup provide plenty of the sweet stuff (this is not a diabetic-friendly dessert – just saying), but there is no refined sugar, no dairy and no gluten. So, all in all it’s a treat that most of us can allow ourselves a little slice, right. After all, it’s holiday pie time! And there’s a lot of nutrition in this pie. I’ve used tons of nuts (so loads of good fats and protein), flax so you get your Omega-3 fatty acids, and fiber-filled dates. I hope you enjoy it as much as I!
PS – This video was made in collaboration with The Whole Food Plant Based Cooking Show! Check out this link to see her incredible recipe for Chocolate Pie.
Pastry Crust
2 tbsp ground flax
4 tbsp warm water
1 and ¼ cup gluten-free pastry flour (I used Jovial Foods)
½ cup almond flour
½ cup ground macadamia nuts
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp Ceylon ground cinnamon
2 tbsp coconut oil or Earth Balance vegan sticks (softened)
3 tbsp date syrup
Filling
1 cup pecans, toasted
1 cup pitted dates
½ cup brown rice syrup
1 tsp of arrowroot mixed in 3 tbsp of soy or almond milk
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Mix the flax and water in a small cup and set aside for 5 minutes
Place flour, almond flour and ground macadamia, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.
Pour the oil and syrup into the bowl, and combine well.
Mix in the flax mixture. The dough will be way wetter than regular pastry, but should have some form.
Grease a pie tin and press the dough into the tin. It will be too wet and crumbly to roll out, so I love to press it in. Make sure you press it up the sides of the tin to create the pie crust. You can scallop the edges with your fingers.
Place the pie crust in the oven for approx 15 minutes. It should have started to firm up, the edges should be a little brown.
Set aside to cool.
Place the dates and water in a heavy saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes until the water has evaporated. All the while you’ll need to stir and smoosh the dates with a wooden spoon. When you don’t actually see any whole dates, you are ready for next step. If the mixture seems too thick, you can add a little more water. It should have the consistency of hot caramel.
Add the date syrup and simmer for another 10 minutes.
Add the arrowroot and soy slurry and mix well. Simmer for another couple of minutes.
Pour the mixture into the pie crust.
Press the pecans into the pie filling.
Turn down the oven to 325 F, and pop your pie in for 15 – 20 minutes. Keep checking as you want to make sure the pie crust doesn’t burn.
Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Serve with vegan ice cream!
