I know you are probably asking yourself why I would be posting an obvious fall treat in the middle of summer. I don’t know what it is but I have been craving something with pumpkin all summer long. It’s one of my favorite fall ingredients and is filled with so much goodness I tend to eat it year round. I always have a can or two lying around to be used for soup, smoothies and treats. What I love about this recipe is that it is super easy to make because it uses all raw ingredients. You can freeze them for a few months and grab them one by one when you need a little treat. The nut crust I use is made with pecans. I like using pecans vs. almonds because I feel like the added pecan flavor really brings out the flavor of the filling. I like to use this same crust for making cashew cheesecakes. If you are like me and can’t wait for pumpkin season to start back up, whip up a batch of these today! Enjoy!
Here is the silicone mold I love.
- ¾ cup pecans
- 1 Tbsp maple syrup
- 2 Tbsp coconut oil (1 Tbsp melted 1 Tbsp straight out of the jar)
- ⅛ tsp sea salt
- 1¼ tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ cup pumpkin
- 1 can full fat coconut milk (refrigerated over night)
- 6 dates
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ginger
- ⅛ tsp clove
- For the crust add pecans, maple syrup, 1 Tbsp coconut oil straight from jar, sea salt, and ⅛ tsp vanilla to a food processor and process until well mixed but slightly chunky.
- Press into a silicone mold or muffin tin. I prefer silicone because they come out perfect but a muffin thin will work as long as you remove them while they are cold. This recipe makes 11 mini pies so if using a muffin tin you may get less depending on how thick you make them.
- Put crust in freezer while you prep the filling.
- Wash and dry food processor.
- Refrigerate can of coconut milk over night and when you remove from the fridge flip the can upside down and open from the bottom. This makes it easy to separate the cream from the water. Remove 2 Tbsp of the cream and 1 Tbsp of the water (put the left over cream in a bowl and place back in the fridge. This will be used for the whipped coconut cream topping) and add to a food processor along with pumpkin, dates, coconut oil, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger and clove.
- Process until smooth.
- Remove crust from freezer and fill with pumpkin filling. I like to use a spatula to scrape off the excess from the top. Sort of like you are puttying a crack. Make sure they are totally filled in and smooth across the top. Its my little secret to perfectly smooth raw treats.
- Freeze for a few hours and then remove from silicone mold or muffin tin.
- Remove the bowl of remaining coconut cream from your fridge and whip with a hand mixer. You can add a little stevia if you want a cream that is sweeter but I personally think you don't need it for this recipe.
- They freeze great or can be kept in the fridge for about a week.
- If you freeze be sure to freeze before wrapping first so that coconut whipped cream can set first.