Vegan, Paleo & GF Pie Crust

By stancec44

Creating a perfectly firm, crunchy-chewy paleo pie crust requires only a few basic ingredients. You can use a single type of nut or seed as a base or any combination of your favorites—either way, it’s hard to go wrong. For a lighter crust, try using cashews. Almonds make a crunchy crust. My all-time favorite is a combination of almonds, pecans, and Brazil nuts.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup mixed nuts or seeds (such as 1/2 cup almonds, 1/2 cup Brazil nuts, 1/2 cup pecans)
• 1/2 cup dried fruit (such as dates)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch salt

Details

Servings 1
Preparation time 10mins
Cooking time 10mins
Adapted from leitesculinaria.com

Preparation

Step 1

1. Place the nuts, dates, and vanilla extract in a food processor and process until a fine crumble forms and sticks together.

2. Remove the crust mixture from the processor and press it into a pie or springform pan using fingertips lightly dampened with water to prevent sticking. Pat the crust evenly into the pan.

3. Proceed with any baked pie and bake according to the recipe. (Due to the relatively high amount of natural sugar in this paleo pie crust, it may brown more quickly than most pie crusts. We suggest you keep a watchful eye on the crust and, if it threatens to turn a darker shade of brown than desirable, rip off a long strip of aluminum foil and loosely crimp the foil around the edge of the pie to cover just the crust, not the filling.)

PALEO PIE CRUST VARIATIONS
You can vary those ingredients according to your own tastes. First, you choose a base ingredient, usually a nut or seed. Once you’ve selected your desired nuts, choose a binder. Dried fruits such as dates, raisins, apricots, or cranberries make excellent binders. The goal is to find the right ratio of binder to base. Depending on the moistness of your binder, you may have to play with the proportions to get the right balance. In the event your crust is not binding, add a little more dried fruit, but just enough to help the ingredients stick together—too much and you’ll end up with a mushy crust. A pinch of salt helps bring out the flavors. As with anything you create, let your imagination come out to play. Just tweak the recipe as your taste buds dictate. You can further customize your crust with flavor add-ins. Citrus zest, extracts like vanilla and almond, cacao powder, cacao nibs, and spices like cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg all make wonderful additions.