FOOD FOR THOUGHT...

"Good chefs, like artists, are visionaries. You have to have a vision of the taste, the look, the smell of your masterpiece; you hold it in your mind and make it materialize."

Onid Jatteri

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Chocolate oo-la-la!

The cabin and farm are hosting the second round of Camp Purple (check it out at Wisconsin Snapshots http://staufferbirds.blogspot.com/ - four homeschooling families totaling 11 punks) for the next two days. The youngest munchkin celebrated her 2nd birthday among friends and family, complete with cupcakes and candles.

Not to be left out of the celebration, my thoughts went immediately to Raw LouLou's recipe for Chocolate Pie. I've just been waiting for a good excuse to make this rich treat - not something I'll be indulging in very frequently. Definately a celebration food.

One of the middle-size punks is a chocolate enthusiast, and helped with the taste-testing of both chocolate fillings. I halved the recipe and made four small pies. I cut one little pie into samples, which were quickly devoured by the gang, pronounced wonderful, complete with requests for recipes.

Without further ado, here is

LOULOU'S RAW CHOCOLATE PIE
PIE CRUST -
*2 cups of almonds
*2 cups of pitted dates
Blend these up together and press in a greased pie dish, or in individual rings/pans to create small portion pies. (note: I didn't grease the pans, turned out fine...the frozen pie came right out of the pan, to be placed on a saucer for slicing.)
CHOCOLATE FILLING
*2 cups of soaked cashews
*12 pitted dates
*1/2 cup filtered water
*2 T cacao powder
*2 T coconut oil
*1/8 tsp Chinese 5-spice (or cinnamon - but do try the 5-spice, it's unique)
Blend all of the above together in a high speed blender (VitaMix) until smooth and creamy in texture then pour on top of the crust.
Freeze to set, and take out of freezer 1 hour before serving. (I just froze them about 30 minutes then took them out to serve immediately.)

I garnished the pie (photo) with a sliced strawberry, tiny mint leaves, and a drizzle of cashew cream (Soak 1 c. raw cashews several hours. Drain, blend in VitaMix with 1/2 c. water. When smooth, blend in another 1 c. water, 1 tsp. agave - optional but really brings out the flavor. This is supposed to be "milk" but is nicely thick like cream - very delicious!)

Just for fun, I made one little pie with a chocolate mousse filling. You'll never guess the magic ingredient. The chocolate taste-tester watched me put the ingredients in the VitaMix and gave a little shrug. He never batted an eye, bless his heart. This mousse got raves from several of the moms...
(again, I halved the recipe)

Raw Vegan Chocolate Mousse
It makes a wonderful chocolate pie as well - just double the recipe. Makes about 2 cups.
* 2 small ripe avocados
*1/2 -3/4 c. agave nectar
*1/4 C raw cocao powder (or carob if you prefer)
*2 T coconut butter or oil
*1 T vanilla
*dash of sea salt
*dash of cinnamon (optional)
Preparation:Place everything in a VitaMix or high-powered blender or food processor and blend (on high) until very smooth. You may need your tamper to move the contents a little so the motor doesn't bog down on you. VitaMix blenders come with one.
Keep stored in an air-tight container in the fridge - that is, if it lasts long enough to make it to the fridge.
(note: I used one avocado, it amply filled one small pie crust. With just enough left in the blender for a couple of spoons of yum! to enjoy. I used the same Almond Date crust as the LouLou recipe...you could use any similar raw crust)

(Mousse recipe courtesy of Purely Delicious Magazine - www.PurelyDelicious.net Check out their Raw Recipes on my sidebar.)

Since the other pies were in the freezer setting up, I put this one in also. I figured since you can get frozen quacamole, this avocado mousse should freezer OK.

And it did. Yummo!

1 comment:

  1. The pie really does look good! I'm on a food storage mission. I'm storing what I need for 3 months of meals, and they are pretty BASIC! I broke down today and made something more gourmet :-).

    ReplyDelete