Natural Living Cuisine

Chilled Blueberry Pie with Lemon Cashew Crust

July 30th, 2008 | by Ingrid

Yesterday, I finally had the chance to create my first raw blueberry pie. Armed with two pounds of fresh organic blueberries, an idea for the piecrust and a lot of enthusiasm, I began to construct the recipe.

Lemon and blueberry pair well together, so I went with my idea and made a lemon flavor crust. The blueberry cream is super easy to make. The coconut oil in the blueberry cream acts as a binder helping solidify the cream. The key is in the temperature. Coconut oil stays solid at temperatures under 70 degrees, above that it becomes liquid. Keeping this pie chilled, even frozen, is a good idea in warmer climates.

In my case, I keep it in the freezer. For ease of removing pie pieces, I slice into the pie to make precut slices before freezing it. This way you don’t have to worry about trying to cut into a frozen pie.

Chilled Blueberry Pie with Lemon Cashew Crust

When making raw dough or crusts, I usually use a coffee grinder to grind nut and seeds to a flour-like consistency. Using a food process yields more of a grainy-like consistency. Almond or macadamia nut flour make excellent alternatives for the lemon crust. I used a rolling pin for this particular crust to get a smooth and even texture, or pressing and shaping the dough directly into the pie dish with the palms of your hands and your fingers works too. For a thicker crust, double the recipe.

Lemon Crust

2 cups cashews, ground to flour
1/3 cup agave
2 tablespoons lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Pinch of sea salt

Grind the cashews to flour in a coffee grinder. Add the cashew flour to a food processor along with the remaining ingredients and process until well incorporated. The mixture should turn into a ball like paste. Place the piecrust in a bowl and transfer to a refrigerator for an hour or two, or freeze for a half-hour. This helps the piecrust firm up and makes it less sticky and easier to handle.

Shaping the crust

Grease the pie dish with a about ½ tablespoon coconut oil; set the pie dish aside. Remove the dough from the refrigerator/freezer and place it on a cutting board or working surface. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough enough to make it 9-inches round in diameter. Lift the dough from the cutting board with a spatula and place it into the pie dish. Mold and shape the dough to the pie dish. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Blueberry Cream

3 cups fresh organic blueberries, rinsed and drained
1/3 cup agave
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup coconut oil
¼ teaspoon sea salt

Blend the blueberries, agave, lemon juice, coconut oil and sea salt together in a high-speed blender. Strain the blueberry cream through a mesh strainer into a large bowl, pressing and stirring with a rubber spatula, to remove most of the blueberry skin particles.

Yields 2 ¼ cups

Assemble the pie

Pour the blueberry cream into the prepared piecrust spreading it evenly using with a rubber spatula or spoon. Place in the refrigerator or freezer to allow the blueberry cream to firm up.

Remove from the refrigerator/freezer and garnish with fresh whole blueberries.

Makes one 9-inch pie: about 8 servings

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Tools You’ll Need For This Recipe

Coffee Grinder, optional
Food Processor
Microplane Zester
9-Inch Glass Pie Dish
High-Speed Blender
Mesh Strainer
Rubber Spatula

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Try these scrumptious raw blueberry recipes:

Blueberry and Cream Cake or try Bliss-full Blueberry Cheesecake - both by Carmella of The Sunny Raw Kitchen

Shaved Raw Asparagus with Blueberries and Litchi Vinaigrette at my other site Raw Epicurean

Blueberry Raffins - by Shannon Marie posted on We Like It Raw

On Gone Raw’s, webiste, type the word “blueberries” in the search box and you’ll find 31 recipes.



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