Pie Contest

The 2007 Festival featured an incredible display of pies exclusively from raw vegan ingredients. The pies were judged by our celebrity panel, with lots of delicious samples shared with the public. Congratulations to Diana, winner of the 2007 SimplyRaw Pie Contest, with her amazing Pretty Peach Pie creation. All of the recipes will appear below as we receive them.

Crust:

• 3 cups almond, soaked 12 hours and dehydrated
• 2 cups chopped dates
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Dash cinnamon

Filling:

• 4 cups peeled and very thinly sliced ripe peaches
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• Cinnamon, to taste

Topping:

• 6-8 dates, soaked 30 min
• 2-3 very ripe peaches, peeled and roughly chopped

For crust: In a food processor chop the nuts and dates until they are finely ground. Add the cinnamon and vanilla while processing. Press the mixture into the pie form.

For filling: In a bowl, toss the sliced peaches with lemon juice and cinnamon, set aside.

For topping: In a food processor combine all the dates, peaches and enough of the date soak water, process until smooth. Pour the topping over the sliced peaches, mix thoroughly and pour the filling into crust.

Decorate with fruits, berries and nuts. Refrigerate.

• 2 cups raw almonds, germinated
• 35 pitted dates, soaked for 1 hour and drained
• 1 tbs fresh lime juice
• 1/2 ts ground cinnamon
• 1/4 ts himalayan salt
• 1/2 ts vanilla extract
• 2 cups raw pecans, germinated
• cold pressed extra virgin olive oil to grease your pan

Combine the almonds and 10 of the dates in a food processor and process until they are coarsely ground and clumping together. Grease the bottom of a 9 inch square brownie pan or a pie plate with a little cold pressed olive oil to keep the pie from sticking to the plate. Press the almond and date mixture evenly into the bottom of the brownie pan and up the sides to form a crust. Set aside. Combine the remaining dates, the fresh lime juice, cinnamon, salt and vanilla in a blender or small food processor and process until the mixture has a smooth uniform consistency. Spread the date filling evenly over the crust. Arrange the pecans on top of the date mixture and press slightly. Cut the pie into 2 inch squares and serve.

Crust:

• 1 cup almonds
• 1 cup pecans
• 1 cup pitted dates, soaked for 1 hour
• 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/4 cup orange juice

Filling:

• 1 1/2 cups avocado
• 1/2 cup of coconut butter
• 1/2 cup cacao powder
• 1/2 cup carob powder
• 1/2 cup agave
• 1/4 cup orange juice

Topping:

• 3/4 cup cashews
• 1/8 cup lemon juice
• 1/8 cup orange juice
• 1/8 cup agave

Decoration:

• Raspberries
• Blueberries
• Coconut butter
• Cookie cutter molds

Crust: In a food processor, chop all ingredients until they are finely ground. Press the mixture into the pie form. Put in the freezer.

Filling: In a food processor, blend all the ingredients until smooth. Put the filling on top of the pie crust and return to the freezer.

Topping: In a food processor, blend all ingredients until smooth. Add the mixture on top of the filling and return to the freezer.

Decoration: Blend a few raspberries with coconut butter. Press cookie cutter mold into the pie, poor raspberry-coconut mixture into the mold and return to freezer until mixture is set. Remove the mold and repeat as necessary. Use extra raspberries and blueberries to decorate as desired.

Keep pie in the freezer until you are ready to serve. Defrost for 30 minutes.

Crust (borrowed from SimplyRaw's Key Lime Pie Recipe)

• 1 cup almonds (soaked)
• 2 cups pecans
• 2 cup dates (soaked until very soft, or very fresh)
• salt to taste
• sprinkle black pepper

Blend in food processor to form sticky ball. Press into pie plate. Freeze while making filling.

Cashew Yogurt (from Juliano's Uncook Book - Cashew Flower Cinnamon Yogurt, Pg 262, Slightly altered)

• 1 cup raw cashews (soaked & dehydrated)
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds (soaked & dehydrated)
• 2 cups Rejuvelac
• 1 tsp white miso
• 3/4 cup pitted dates
• juice of 1 lemon
• rind of one lemon

Grind nuts and seeds in food processor or coffee grinder until powdery fine. In a blender, blend nut powder and 1 cup of the liquid. Add the remaining cup of liquid along with the white miso, dates, lemon rind, and blend well. Pour seed yogurt into a jar. Tightly secure with cheesecloth and allow yogurt to ferment 1 to 3 hours. To firm the cheese, turn jar upside down in fridge (with a bowl placed on the next shelf down to catch drips). Keeps 3 days refrigerated.

Lemon Filling (from SimplyRaw Key Lime Pie recipe, without limes, vanilla, and with more lemon)

• Flesh of 2 young coconuts
• 3 avocados
• juice of 4 lemons
• 8 dates
• 2 tbsp agave nectar
• 2-3 tbsp coconut oil
• 3 tbsp flax powder
• celtic salt to taste

Blend in food processor. Add just enough flax powder to firm it up. Salt to taste.

Lemon Crème

• 2 cups soaked & dehydrated almonds
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 2 tsp lemon zest
• 1/2 cup fresh young coconut water
• 3/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup agave (to taste)
• celtic sea salt to taste

Blend in Blender.

Making the Pie:

Pour yogurt into pie shell, followed by lemon filling. For top layer, drop lemon crème from spoon for texture, allowing some of the green layer to show through. Decorate with edible flowers and blueberries as well as lemon zest.

Crust:

• 2 cups pecans
• 4 cups filtered water
• 1/4 cup chopped dates
• 2 TBSP maple syrup
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Grind pecans, dates finely in a food processor. Add maple syrop, cinnamon adn salt and grind until well mixed. Texture should be crumbly and sticky. Press into the bottom and sides of a torte pan with removable bottom or glass pie plate.

Lemon ginger cream:

• 2 cups almonds
• soaked and peeled ( I used soaked cashews)
• 2 TBSP lemon juice
• 1 TBSP lemon zest
• 3 TBSP maple syrop
• 3 TBSP agave nectar
• 2-3 tsp finely grated ginger
• 1TBSP coconut butter (optional)

In blender or foodprocessor put all ingredients and blend until supersmooth. it may be necessary to add a bit of filtered water to aid blending. Spread cream in the bottom fo the torte crust.

Pears:

• 1 TBSP maple syrup
• 1 TBSP lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 4-6 ripe pears, cores removed, peeled and sliced.

In a large bowl mix together the maple syrop, lemonjuice, and cinnamon. Add the pears and fold gently to combine. Arrange the pear slices over the cream. Chill in the fridge for at least an hour before cutting and serving.