Avocado Chocolate Pie with Nut Crust

Nut Crust

2-1/2 cups ground nuts (I used about a 2:1 ratio of almonds and pecans ground in the Vita-Mix)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup coconut oil

1 egg

2 Tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Add the salt and baking soda to the ground nuts and mix well.  Next add the coconut oil and egg, then squish it all around until everything is incorporated (no chunks of oil and everything is sort of wet). Finally, stir in the maple syrup and vanilla.

Pat into a 9 inch pie pan. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool while you make the filling.

Avocado Chocolate Pie Filling

3 Avocados, pitted and peeled
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup sweetener (honey or maple syrup)
1 tbsp vanilla
1-1/2 small apples, peeled, cored and chopped up
juice from 1 lemon
a little bit of salt
some almond milk

Put everything except the almond milk into the Vita-Mix. Turn on and quickly increase from Variable 1 to High and immediately start using the tamper to push everything into the blades as you add almond milk a tablespoon or so at a time. I'm thinking it's at least 1/3 to 1/2 cup of almond milk that you'll use, if not more. When everything is mixed (it'll still be thick, but all chocolate powder is incorporated), turn off the Vita-Mix and use a spatula to scoop into your prepared pie crust. Refrigerate for a couple hours. It definitely doesn't taste that good warm.

For an extra treat, put some whip cream, Cool Whip or other yummy whip (I haven't tried whipping coconut milk yet) on top before serving.

Paleo Brownies

A bunch of my friends are trying out the Paleo diet.  I haven't really looked into it or gotten involved with it, but I do try to find some less suger, more natural treats to eat.  My friend sent a brownie recipe (that she got from a friend) and I had to try it out (with some variations) because I NEEDED chocolate.  They turned out really good.  Almost like cake - slightly airier than brownies to me, but very yummy. I make them almost every month now.

16 oz. walnuts (2 cups, I use 1 cup raw almonds and 1 cup raw walnuts)

1 egg

1 cup honey

1/2 cup baking cocoa

1 tbsp vanilla

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 oz. unsweetened dark chocolate, chopped into small shredded pieces (or half a 3.5 oz. bar of Trader Joe's 73% dark chocolate)

1ish tbsp coconut oil (for greasing the baking dish)

Preheat over to 325 degrees.

- Pulse nuts in the food processor until they're ground up - anywhere from flour consistency to nut butter consistency is fine. I usually do somewhere in between using my Vita-Mix.

- Mix the egg, vanilla and honey in one bowl. 

- In a separate bowl, mix nut butter, cocoa, salt and baking soda until well combined. Then add the wet ingredients and stir until everything is the same consistency.

- Add the dark chocolate and mix.

- Grease an 8x8 baking dish with coconut oil and pour the mixture into the baking dish.  Bake for 30-35 minutes.  (Most baking times for me are more like 40-45 minutes, but I'm at a high, dry altitude. I keep it in the oven until the center is not jiggly but is still pretty soft and the outside edges are dryish.) Let it settle about 15 minutes.  It will puff during baking and settle during cooling.

- Using walnuts only and unsweetened baking chocolate turned out slightly more bitter than I'd like.  I tried half raw almonds and half walnuts and 73% dark chocolate on my next batch and I liked the taste much better.