Recipe: Rawsome Fruity Christmas Mince Pies!

There's nothing like wrapping your ho ho ho gear around a crunchy, tasty pie is there? And being Raw doesn't mean you miss out! I soooo would not be raw if I couldn't have me pie!

For the pastry:

1 cup cashew flour

1 tablespoon maca powder

½ tablespoon coconut nectar

1 tablespoon cinnamon powder

¼ teaspoon salt

A splash of water

(credit to the wonderful Omid  Jaffari at botanical cuisine for creating the original version of these tart shells!)

Method:

To create cashew flour, blend in vitamix or good food processor in short bursts so as not to heat too much.

Transfer to food processor and add other ingredients, processing to a dough-like consistency

Press the dough into mini tart moulds with removable bottoms and dehydrate for about 8 hours, remove from moulds and dehydrate on a mesh tray for a further 6 hours. Place shells carefully into a sealed container until ready to use.

Fruit mince

3 organic apples (sweet variety) with skin on, roughly chopped

1½  cups raisins

1 cup cranberries or sour cherries

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon grated nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon allspice

Zest of one lemon

1 tablespoon coconut nectar

2 cups water or fresh apple juice

1 teaspoon vanilla powder or one vanilla bean scraped

Tablespoon of light rum or Cointreau

Method:

Place everything in the food processor and mix till combined and roughly uniform in chunk size. Transfer to a rectangular pyrex dish and place in dehydrator for about 16 hours, allowing it to reduce and become relatively firm.

Assembly:

Take a tart shell and fill with mince, top with lemon zest and serve with coconut yoghurt (recipe below) . These taste really good if you pop the shell and mince into the dehydrator for about 30 minutes prior to serving. 

Yoghurt

1 cup cashews (soaked min 2 hours ideally longer)

Meat from two young coconuts

¾ cup coconut water

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

¼ teaspoon salt

1 probiotic capsule

Using a high-speed blender, mix till smooth and creamy- the longer you soak the cashews, the creamier it will be. Make sure there are no lumps and be careful that the blender doesn’t overheat.

Leave in a warm spot for 5-6 hours then refrigerate; use within 7 days.