Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Grub It Up: Paleo Frozen Chocolate Sea Salt Pie


As you might have noticed, birthdays are a big deal in our house. Well, at least the kiddo birthdays are. Mom and dad generally celebrate their birthdays with less fanfare, but this year mom decided to make daddy a special Paleo birthday dessert. There are plenty of Paleo cake recipes circulating the blogosphere, but mom was wary of making her first entry into the clean-eating dessert world with a big birthday cake move. So instead she chose to go with a frozen pie -- daddy's favorite cake is ice cream cake anyways. It was super easy to make and a big winner with everyone. As with a lot of Paleo desserts, this one is heavy on coconut. But mom found that adding the sea salt helped balance it out. We did have a little trouble getting the candle in the frozen top, but the birthday boy didn't seem to mind. Party on.

Paleo Frozen Chocolate Sea Salt Pie

Ingredients:
Crust:
- 1/2 cup pitted, dried dates 
- 1 cup raw pecans
- 3 tablespoons raw cacao powder
- 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Filling:
- 1 can coconut cream
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 cup dark chocolate or semi-sweet Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips (dairy, nut, soy free)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- coarse sea salt (to taste)

Directions
Crust: 
- grind the pecans until coarse meal using a food processor and place it in a bowl
- roughly chop up dates and grind in processor until small pieces
- mix the dates with the ground pecans, cacao powder, vanilla and coconut oil
- line a 9X9 glass baking dish with parchment paper and spread the mixture until evenly distributed
- press crust down evenly with fingers

Chocolate Filling: 
- in a saucepan, mix the coconut milk and coconut oil and heat it until it starts to bubble, but not boil
- remove from the stove and mix in the chocolate chips, vanilla and cinnamon
- return to the stove and simmer for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly
- spread the mixture evenly over the crust and freeze for about 3 hours (cover with plastic wrap if going to leave in freezer longer than that)

Let pie sit at room temperature for 15 minutes and sprinkle coarse sea salt on the top just prior to serving. 



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