Vegan Spiced Butternut Pie

17 October 2016

Halloween is just around the corner meaning lots of yummy orange recipes coming your way! I’ve always loved using butternut in dessert dishes because of its natural sweetness. Add a little cinnamon and cloves and you have the most complimentary flavours to work with in just about any cake, muffin or cupcake recipe. Butternut is really great for your body too - It provides plenty of fibre, significant amounts of potassium, important for bone health, and vitamin B6, essential for the proper functioning of both the nervous and immune systems. Tasty and healthy too! The perfect Halloween treat to enjoy with friends and family.

Serves: 6-8 | Ready in 45m

Ingredients

For Crust:

1 1/2 cups Almond flour

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup xylitol

1/2 cup coconut oil

2-4 tbsp. water

For filling:

1kg butternut pieces – steamed and blended to form a puree

400g full-fat coconut milk

1/4 cup rolled oats

2 tbsp. ground flax seeds

1/3 cup xylitol

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground cloves

¼ tsp. ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp. ground ginger

¼ tsp. Pink Himalayan salt

1 tbsp. pure vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180°C

Step 1: Prepare Pie Crust

In a large mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients for pie crust. Add coconut oil and stir. Add water as needed until mixture begins to stick together. Press evenly into a round pie pan.

Step 2:

Place some baking paper over the top of the pie crust and cover with a few raw speckled beans (The crust will rise, so the beans will assist in keeping the pie crust flat). Put the crust in the oven and immediately increase the temperature to 280°C. Bake 15 minutes until cooked through, crisp and lightly browned. Allow to cool.

Step 3: Prepare Filling

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Blend all ingredients or pie filling together in a food processor until smooth, and pour over ready cooked pie crust.

Step 4:

Allow to bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes remove from oven and allow to cool. Pie filling will still seem slightly underdone after this time but this is what you want. Once cooled, refrigerate for at least 5 hours uncovered, so that the pie can thicken and “set.”

Serving Suggestion: Before serving, top with a little cinnamon and flaked almonds. For a fruiter taste, you can also top with fresh blueberries.