RAW Apple Pie

Yowza! This pie is insanely good. I've been wanting to make this recipe for well over a year now. Why, oh why, did I wait so long??? I'm not a raw foodist, but I thought this idea was pretty nifty so I just had to try it. I researched online a couple of years ago and saw some raw apple pie recipes floating around. But they all used fresh, raw apples. "Hmph," I said to myself. "That must be pretty messy!"

Then I saw some dried apples in the market and I thought… "why not rehydrate and use these in a pie?" Well, I finally did it. Spectacular! It worked so well. The apples have a slight crunch when rehydrated, but they're sorta soft, too, like in a cooked pie. YUMMMMERS! I actually did a happy dance when I had my first taste. You'll need a 6" springform pan for this recipe. I suppose it would work just fine in a regular pie dish but I haven't tried that yet. And the taller springform pan makes for a rather dramatic presentation, don't ya think? ;-) Oh, and you'll need a juicer to make the fresh apple juice.

So, for all you beautiful, raw foodies out there, this one's for you! And anyone else who wants to change it up a little for the holidays with a nutritious, raw food dessert.

Ingredients:

~ for the filling

½ pound unsulphured, unsweetened dried apples (I found some at Trader Joe's)
2 cups fresh apple juice
1 TBS ground chia seeds
1 tsp ground cinnamon

~ for the crust

2 cups almond flour
½ cup raw walnuts
½ cup pitted medjool dates
1 TBS ground flax + 2 TBS water

~ for the crumble topping

½ cup raw walnuts
½ cup pitted medjool dates
½ tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

Soak the apples in the apple juice to reconstitute. This may take several hours. You may want to just pop them in the fridge and do it overnight.
Drain the apple juice from the apples, squeezing out as much juice as you can, then add back 1 TBS of the juice, the ground chia and the cinnamon and toss to combine.
Place all of the crust ingredients in a food processor and pulse until combined. It should stick together well when done.
Press the crust into a 6" springform pan and work it up the sides about ¾ of the way up, as evenly as possible. I used some plastic wrap, a pastry roller (super nifty inexpensive tool!) and a small silicone spatula. Took a bit of doing but we got there!
Scoop the apples into the crust and push down gently to remove any gaps but not so hard that you push them into the crust, which is rather soft at this point.
Use the food processor again for the crumble, pulsing all the ingredients to mix. Leave it chunky.
Top the pie with the crumble and refrigerate for several hours or overnight to set.
Use a sharp knife around the sides of the pie to help it unmold from the pan (I will probably use some parchment paper next time as it was a little sticky). You'll need a sharp knife to get some beautifully cut slices of the pie, too. It's very rich with all those nuts so a small slice goes a long way!