Many years ago, I made a raw apple pie for a special CNN report on raw food. While preparing the pie on camera, the skeptical reporter questioned how an apple pie could be made to taste good without baking it. Well, the quintessential moment arrived for her to taste my completed uncooked pie.
Though the reporter commented on how great the pie looked, tension was building up inside of me. I thought, “what if she doesn’t like it?” I imagined a humiliating scenario: her eyes squinting and her face scrunching, while gagging on a piece of my raw pie, ending with my pie being spit out of her mouth in pure disgust…and all this broadcast on international television. How humiliating that would have been.
But thank God, the reporter not only loved the pie, she thought it tasted better than the traditional baked apple pie she was so fond of! At that moment, I was overcome with joy. People all around the world were witnessing a taste-testing event that showed raw food could not only be comparable to but sometimes even better than cooked food (at least in the opinion of that reporter and me).
Enjoy this choice, guilt-free pie knowing that unlike the traditional baked pie, it contains no butter or shortening, white flour, salt, or apples saturated with processed white sugar and baked to the point of losing most of its nutritious value. Eat this pie for your health and enjoyment!
Rockin’ Raw Apple Pie!
(For a more tart pie, use less dates.)
2 cups of finely chopped dehydrated apple slices (can be done in a food processor)
6 large pitted dates, finely chopped
½ cup chopped walnuts (food processor)
1/3 of a vanilla bean
3 or 4 large sweet Golden Delicious Apples peeled and sliced thin.
3 medium sized sweet pears
5 large pitted dates
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 tsp. vanilla
½ cup of chopped walnuts
Crust:
In food processor, moderately chop ½ cup of walnuts and set aside. Combine dehydrated apple slices, vanilla bean (not skin), and 6 large dates in food processor until well homogenized. In bowl, mix the apple / date mixture and walnuts by hand; knead together well. Press into the bottom and sides of a 9 inch Pyrex pie plate. Chill.
Filling:
Blend pears, 5 large dates, spices, and vanilla until smooth
When ready to serve, place the apples in the pie crust and cover with pear puree or layer ½ the apples, then cover with ½ the pear puree, top with remaining apples and cover apples with the rest of the pear puree.
Topping:
Cover pie with ½ cup of chopped walnuts
Chill for 20 minutes before serving.
For an extra treat, try a scoop of raw vanilla ice cream on top!
Enjoy!