Chai Pecan Pie
This recipe is from Rev. Chef Beth Love, the Founder of Eat for the Earth
Yield: 1 nine-inch pie
Ingredients:
- 1½ cups pecans, soaked overnight and drained, divided
- ¾ cups almonds, soaked overnight and drained
- 1½ teaspoons chia seeds, ground
- small pinch of salt
- 1½ cups strong herbal chai, divided (see recipe below)
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon agar flakes
- ¾ cup dates, pits and stems removed, coarsely chopped
- 1 tablespoon alcohol-free vanilla
- juice of 1 lemon, about 2–3 tablespoons
- Pick out ¾ cup of nicely formed half pecans for the top of the pie and set these aside.
- Make the crust:
- Process chia seeds in a seed grinder.
- Mix ground chia seeds with 1 tablespoon water.
- Process soaked almond and pecans (non-reserved) and a small pinch of salt in a food processor using pulse mode. The mixture should resemble crumbs, not nut butter.
- Add soaked chia and process a little more until the mixture comes away from the sides of the food processor and begins forming a dough-like mass.
- Taste and adjust salt if necessary.
- Dump the mixture into a 9” pie plate and use your hands to distribute it fairly evenly across the pie plate with a slight build-up near the edges. Press mixture into the pan, ensuring the bottom and sides are evenly covered. Crimp the top edge of the crust.
- Place reserved pecan halves on a dehydrator tray and place in dehydrator at 115ºF.
- Place crust in the dehydrator as well.
- Dehydrate nuts until crispy, about 8–10 hours.
- Dehydrate crust until it is fairly firm and cuttable, about 8–14 hours. The longer time will make a crispier crust.
- When the crust is finished, make the filling:
- In a small saucepan, soak agar in 1¼ cups cold chai for 5-10 minutes.
- Combine dates, lemon juice, remaining ¼ cup of chai, and vanilla in a food processor.
- Process until smooth.
- Turn on the burner under your agar/water mixture. Cover the pot to help it come to a boil more quickly and to reduce evaporation loss. Keep an eye on it to avoid boiling over. When the mixture comes to a boil, turn it down and keep it simmering, covered, for 5 minutes.
- When the agar mixture has simmered for 5 minutes, remove it from the heat and take off the lid so it can begin to cool down.
- While the agar mixture cools, arrange your reserved dehydrated nuts on a plate that is similarly sized to the inside of your pie crust.
- Once the agar mixture is lukewarm, add to date mixture and process until well combined. Pour into crust and transfer your pecan design to the top.
- Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or preferably overnight.
Notes:
- Soaking the nuts and dehydrating makes a crust that contrasts nicely with the sweet filling, but you can make it another way if you don’t have a dehydrator. If you are not using a dehydrator, follow these instructions:
- Substitute raw nuts for the soaked nuts.
- Add 2–4 pitted dates to the mixture when processing crust to help hold it together.
- You can substitute store-bought herbal chai for the homemade.
Herbal Chai
Ingredients:
- ½ tablespoon dried ginger
- ½ teaspoon dried orange peel
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon whole cardamom pods
- ½ tablespoon allspice seeds
- ½ teaspoon cloves
- a quarter of a nutmeg, chopped in several pieces
- 1 teaspoon roasted chicory root granules
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon chips
- Place 2 quarts of water in a pot.
- Measure and add cinnamon chips, roasted chicory, ginger, and orange peel to water in a pot.
- Measure and combine black pepper, cardamom, allspice, and cloves in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. Coarsely crush, then add to the pot.
- Chop a quarter of nutmeg into several pieces and add to the pot.
- Bring to a boil and then keep it at a strong simmer or low boil for 2–4 hours.
- Strain spices.
- Remove what you need for the pie, and set it aside to cool.
- Use the rest to drink, with natural sweetener and plant-based milk if you like.
