The Real Food Remix Recipe Series – Holiday Edition is back.  

If you missed it before, we tackled Thanksgiving recipes just a few weeks back.

Now we’re going to take a look at some winter holiday desserts remixed with real food ingredients… because, you know… dessert!

What’s a real food remix recipe?  We take traditional recipes that call for processed, dead food ingredients like white flour, white sugar, and more, as well as chemicals, preservatives, additives, etc that are found in store bought varieties, and we “remix” and recreate them with real food ingredients.  Ingredients our body recognizes as FOOD and not food-like products.  Ingredients that work in concert with our body, not against it.  Ingredients that give us energy, vitality and optimal athletic performance, not hinder it.  Oh… and they taste pretty good too 🙂

For this Real Food Remix Holiday Edition Series, we’re going to look at:

• Pistachio cream pie – this was incredible
• Strawberry cream pie – great for all food palates
• Blueberry cream pie – so rich with blueberry flavor
• Chocolate cream pie with orange infusion – chocolate & orange go great together!
• Raw carrot cake with cashew cream – one of my favs
• Eggnog cream pie –  Oh yes
• Gingerbread cookie cream pie – don’t leave this one for Santa on Christmas eve, it will be all gone!
• Plus a few more I’ve got up my sleeve i’ll be finishing up this weekend.

We’ll look at all of them starting today and then going through all next week, Monday – Friday, so you have some great dessert ideas for the coming winter holidays.

First up, raw pistachio cream pie.

This pie is:

	100% real food
	100% raw food
	Paleo-friendly ingredients
	Vegan-friendly ingredients
	Gluten-free
	Dairy-free
	Processed Junk-free
	100% awesome

Let’s take a look at it…

Ingredients:

Crust

1 1/2 cup raw macadamia nuts 

1/2 cup raw pistachios

8 pitted medjool dates

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground clove

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of pink salt

Filling

1 cup raw pistachios, dry (soaked for 4 hours – they’ll plump up to close to 2 cups)

1 cup raw cashews, soaked 4 hours

3 tablespoons maple butter

1/2 cup coconut milk

1/4 cup coconut oil

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Kitchen Notes:  When you buy pistachios, buy at least 1/4 cup more than what is called for in the crust and filling so you can sprinkle on top (see picture above).  Also, many of you ask about maple butter. It can be hit or miss to find locally (it is available on amazon here), but it’s just my preferred “sweet” for these kind of desserts.  You could also try maple syrup or raw honey as well. Coconut nectar could even work for a lower glycemic sugar.  And if you want to try an alternative sweetener like stevia, that could work (although I have not tried that yet..but you can always experiment yourself if it works).

Directions:

Crust

1. Place all your ingredients in a food processor and blend until everything incorporated to sticky mixture. 

2. Take a 9 1/2″ pie pan with removable bottom like this one and form the mixture into the pan for your crust.  Place crust in the freezer and on to the filling..

Filling

1.  Drain and dry off your soaked cashews and pistachios.

2. Place the nuts and all other ingredients into your food processor and blend until incorporated and very creamy (no chunks).  I always let the filling whiz up for a good 2-3 minutes.

3. Once you have your filling, remove your crust from the freezer and add your filling in the middle of the pie crust.  Then what I do is take the pie pan is it hold each side and begin to make a circle motion with the entire pan.  The filling will circle out evenly on the whole pie.

4.  Sprinkle your extra pistachios on top.  I crunched them up, but then I also put small handful in my coffee bean grinder (see the pictures in this post, you’ll notice the bigger chunks and then the finer powder-like topping).

5.  Place back in freezer and let it setup over night.

6.  When you’re ready to serve, take it out of the freezer and let it sit for 15-20 minutes.  You can keep this one stored in the fridge afterwards

That’s it!  Really easy to do, right?  Not too many steps…Throw some real food ingredients into a food processor and voila!  And look at the amazing picture below you can serve up to friends, family, co-workers, you name it!

This pie is very rich and creamy, it won’t disappoint.  Enjoy in moderation while following a healthy 80/20 lifestyle and eating according to your metabolic type for optimal health, energy, vitality and athletic performance.

Buon Appetito!