March seventeenth twenty-fourteen. Two friends with one passion come together to bring their dream to life. The birth of this blog. And this Deep Dish Pecan Pie.
It’s not very often you meet someone with the same English name, same Chinese name, same age, and same dream. But somehow, the Rachel Chew street merged with the Rachel Leung road. A bit further down that path, we’ve talked about running a ‘real’ food blog, envisioned what it would look like, then yearned for it– a place where we document our personal creations and share the joy of healthy living with others. So, we made up our minds to turn this dream into reality on Saint Patrick’s Day. We’re not superstitious, but kick-starting our dream career on a lucky day can’t hurt right?
Putting our long-time plan into action and crafting an epic pecan pie in under 24 hours is as productive as spring break gets. Between trying to decipher all that confusing technical blogging terminology, we had time to make this shameless Deep Dish Pecan Pie and lick all the equipment clean. I know, shameless. Absolutely shameless.
Like, what’s a celebration without dessert?
Make that a one with chocolate and caramel. One that’s healthy, vegan, paleo, guilt free and oh-so-satisfying all at the same time.
While you salivate over this gooey, marbled pecan masterpiece of a pie, we would like to formally welcome everyone to Radiant Rachels! Differentiating one Rachel from the other may get a little confusing, but on the bright side, you don’t really need to remember because if you call ‘Rachel!’, you’re sure to get both of our attention. Please continue to share the love and support for this blog. In return, we shall shower you with delectable food. Mostly in it’s photo form, sometimes in it’s 3D form. But today, in it’s stop-motion/gif form.
Look at that chocolate drizzle.
Click below to recreate this beautiful pecan pie at home
- Crust:
- 1½ cups almond flour
- ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut, toasted*
- 1 tbsp coconut oil, melted
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- Caramel:
- ~1½ cups Medjool dates, pitted
- ⅓ cup almond butter
- Almond milk, as needed
- Super Dark Chocolate Ganache:
- ~2 cups of cocoa powder
- ⅓ cup coconut oil, melted
- 2 tbsp. maple syrup
- Almond milk, as needed
- Garnishes:
- 2 cups pecan halves, toasted**
- ~⅓ cup unsweetened shredded coconut, toasted*
- Preheat oven to 350⁰F.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine all ingredients for crust. Press mixture into a spring-form or removable bottom pan, going up the sides at least 2 inches.
- Bake crust in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. Set aside to cool once baked.
- For the caramel, pulse dates and almond butter in a food processor. With the motor running, pour in almond milk until the mixture is smooth and viscous. The consistency should be like natural peanut butter. Transfer completed caramel to a bowl.
- In the same food processor (no need to clean!), make the chocolate ganache by processing the cocoa powder and melted coconut oil until smooth. With the motor running, pour in almond milk until a thick liquid consistency is reached. Spoon out about ⅓ cup of this chocolate ganache and chill in freezer. We will save this to make mini truffles.
- Continue adding almond milk to the remaining ganache until a runny consistency is reached.
- Begin constructing the deep dish pie by alternating layers of caramel and runny chocolate ganache, sprinkling toasted coconut and pecans between layers.
- Create mini chocolate truffles by rolling small portions of chilled ganache into balls with hands. Roll in toasted coconut if desired.
- Decorate the top of the pie with more pecans and fill gaps with chocolate truffles. Chill the pie in the freezer for at least 1 hour before cutting with a sharp knife.
- Store in the fridge after it sets.
**To toasted pecans: Spread pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake at 350⁰F for 7 to 8 minutes until fragrant. Again, keep a close eye on it; pecans will turn from perfectly toasted to burnt in seconds!
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Congratulations on the launch of your blog! Your creativity is inspiring and I am excited to follow the “Radiant Rachels”.
Congrats on the new blog. Is the maple syrup for the truffles only or is it supposed to be added to the ganache?
Hi Tracey, thanks for stopping by! 2 tbsp of maple syrup is needed in the crust and an additional 2 tbsp is needed for the ganache.
Must make this for the sake of my health! *cries*
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment Vv! Yes yes, treat your soul with super foods in pie form!!
another delicious recipe! we always serve these pies with creamy classics vanilla icecream-probably takes away the healthy aspect of it a bit but the flavours go so well together! i actually thought it tasted even better without the pecans!
A little bit of ice cream never hurt anyone 😉