Paleo Chocolate Pecan Pie

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Just after Thanksgiving I share a recipe for paleo pie crust with you, and then promptly moved on to recipes for puréed sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pork mole. Sorry! I didn't mean to leave you hanging. Because that pie crust really did become a pie, studded with pecans and oozing bittersweet chocolate... and now that I think about it, it's crazy that I even went so long with out writing about it. 

A slice of this pie, with layers of two of my favorite things--chocolate and pecans- is like a slice of a giant, warm, chocolate chip cookie with extra chocolate. And in between all of that are big bites of caramelly goodness. 

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Ok, so I shouldn't have left you hanging. It's true. I should've shared the chocolate love the minute I could. But guess what?! There's still time! This pie is the kind of dessert that deserves to sit on a table full of warmth, and with the holidays around the corner... I see it in your future very, very soon! 

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So now that I've made you wait, you want the recipe right now? It'll all yours! 

Paleo Chocolate Pecan Pie

Paleo, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free    |   Caitlin Sherwood    

The finish pie tastes sort of like a giant chocolate chip cookie, but stickier.

Serves: 12    |    Total Active Time: 45 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 1 paleo pie crust
• 1 cup whole pecans
• 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup honey, melted
• 1/4 cup coconut oil or butter, melted
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400°F. Spread the chocolate chips into an even layer in the bottom of the pie crust. Arrange the pecans in a single layer over the chocolate.
2. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the melted oil and honey. Allow the honey and oil to come to room temperate, and whisk in the eggs quickly, along with the vanilla and salt.
3. Gently pour this mixture over the pecans. Place the pie on center rack of the oven. Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until a toothpick, inserted 1 inch from edge, comes out clean.

Paleo Cinnamon Coconut Crumble Coffee Cake

Update 1/12/2017: I have been playing with photography more, and wanted to reshoot the images for this recipe. The images here are new, the recipe is the same!

Mmm... can you smell that? Wafts of warm cinnamon? Melodies of toasting coconut? Hints of vanilla? That's what leisure smells like. At 7am it smells dreamy, like you're not quite awake yet. This is what our house smelled like this week, letting everyone know it's official: winter break is here! 

On the last day of school, my usual mid-semester stress was already beginning to lift, and with no cramming left to do, I spent my morning making cake. This coffee cake, a Paleo makeover of one of my grandmother's recipes, has a soft crumb and is lightly sweet.

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My grandmother's secret ingredient in coffee cake was sour cream, but I wanted to keep this recipe paleo-friendly, so I used bananas, which add a similar amount of moisture, and keeps it dairy-free. The banana flavor is subtle, and after a bite or two it's lost between the cinnamon and coconut, but that fruit provides a gentle sweetness that is the perfect match to a cup of chai. Hooray for natural sweetness! Really have a sweet tooth? The cakey part of this coffee cake is only subtly sweet, but you can add 2 tablespoons of honey if you’re sweet tooth is begging for it.

Another twist that my grandmother’s recipe didn’t call for — coconut on top. Most crumbs call for just a few ingredients: flour, sugar, butter, cinnamon. Sometimes oats. But, since none of those ingredients (aside from the cinnamon and maybe the butter, depending on your definition) are Paleo, I improvised. Toasted coconut adds the “crunch” I was looking for with out adding grains or flour. GF, DF (though you can use butter over coconut oil if you prefer), and NF (nut-free, for anyone that needs it!).

Now who has the coffee??

Paleo Cinnamon Coconut Crumble Coffee Cake

Published December 12, 2014 by Caitlin Sherwood

Yields: 8   |    Active Time: 60 minutes

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Ingredients:

4 eggs

2/3 cup canned full fat coconut milk 

2 ripe bananas, peeled and roughly chopped

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt 

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the Crumble Topping:

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2/3 cup unsweetened desiccated coconut 

4 tablespoon coconut oil or butter, melted

4 tablespoon honey, melted or coconut sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a 9-inch by 9-inch glass baking dish or cake pan.
2. Whisk together in coconut flour, baking soda, and salt, getting rid of any chunks of coconut flour as you do. In a separate bowl, mash the bananas well. Add the eggs, and vanilla to the bank mixture, folding together until incorporated. Slowly fold the dry ingredients into the wet, stirring until a smooth batter forms. **If you own a blender,  you can skip the mashing and stirring and throw all of the batter ingredients in (eggs, banana, coconut flour, coconut milk, salt, baking soda and vanilla) and blend until smooth. 
3. Spread the batter into the greased baking dish or cake pan.
4. In a small bowl, combine melted coconut oil, honey, cinnamon and coconut. Stir with a fork until a loose crumb forms. Use your fingers to sprinkle the crumble evenly over the top of the cake batter. 
5. Bake the cake for 40-45 minutes, or until golden brown on top and a tooth pick comes out clean when inserted into the middle. Set on a wire wrack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature with your normal breakfast beverage. 

Baking Season Essentials: Paleo Pie Crust

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It's December. Yup, just like that--December. Most of the time I get to a new month and think "Wow, I can't believe it's ______ already!" but this month, I'm ready. Bring on the winter wonderland. I'll just cuddle up in this little house baking all weekend. 

First up: pie! Pie is an essential to any bakers repertoire, no matter how you slice it (ha!). Making the perfect pie crust is the bane of many baker's kitchen life, and making a pie crust that's also paleo is even rougher. I can still hear my dad scoffing as I pull out a food processor to make pie crust. "The butter gets all warm!" he would say, pulling out the pastry cutter and a chilled bowl. Hmph. 

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Well, paleo bakers, I'm here to say: "Rejoice! The food processor is in!" and this crust will go from start to finish in 20 minutes flat. It comes out of a pie dish beautifully and while you might not expect a nut-based crust to stick together, this one holds solid. You could eat a slice of this buttery crust sans-plate, if you were really desperate.  

Wondering what to make with this crust? 

• Paleo Peach Gingered Pie 

• Gluten-Free Chocolate Pecan Pie

• Homey Grain-Free Apple Pie

Almond Flour Pie Crust

Paleo, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free    |   Caitlin Sherwood    

A simple, easy pie crust for any type of pie.

Serves: N/A    |    Total Active Time: 25 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups almond flour
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• pinch salt
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil, cold + more for greasing the pie pan
• 1 egg

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. In your food processor, pulse the almond flour, coconut flour and salt together until well distributed and no coconut flour clumps remain. (Do not over-process, it will turn into nut butter!)
2. Add the coconut oil and egg. Pulse the food processor for several more minutes, until all of the oil and egg are incorporated and the dough turns into a loose crumb (depending on the temperature of your kitchen, it may also form a ball).
3. Grease a 9-inch pie pan with coconut oil. Press the dough into the pan, to form a 1/8 inch thin layer, working the dough up the sides of the pan. (Tip: use a smooth water glass or jar to roll out the dough in the bottom of the pan. Use your fingers to shape the scallops around the edge of the pie). Tip: alternatively, roll the dough out between 2 pieces of parchement paper until it's a 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch thick. Place in fridge for 5 minutes. Then, peel off top piece of parchment and transfer dough into pie pan, fitting to pan. For top crust, repeat the same process but shape top crust as desired after removing from fridge (cut strips for lattice, use a cookie cutter, etc).
4. Place the crust in the middle wrack of your oven and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until just golden.