I will take almost any excuse to make a raw dessert. I will rarely make them for just myself, but if I can make something for someone else, I am on it. My dad was away for about 4 days, so I took the opportunity to make him a raw chocolate pudding pie with a raw chocolate shell and chocolate covered strawberries. So good! My food styling skills are lacking and it doesn’t look as good it probably should, but I assure you, if you like chocolate, you will like this. 😊
This might be annoying to some people, but I rarely measure out anything for raw desserts. I just wing it and do occasional taste tests. It really doesn’t add much extra time to the process, and you’ll get used to it to the point where you’ll be able to “feel” how much of everything to put it. 😊
Ingredients for the Chocolate Pudding
2 Ripe Avocados (The riper they are, the better)
Agave/Honey/Maple Syrup/Coconut Nectar (the maple syrup isn’t raw)
about 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Pinch of Sea Salt
Raw Cacao Powder (opt: Some Carob Powder)
Ingredients for the Pie Crust
Just under a cup of Raw Almonds
4-6 large pitted Dates, soaked in water for a few minutes
Ingredients for The Chocolate Shell / Chocolate for the Strawberries
Coconut Oil, liquid form
Cacao Powder
Liquid Sweetener
1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract
Pinch of Sea Salt
Optional Ingredients for Toppings
Shredded Coconut
Vegan Chocolate Chips (The ones I used were not raw)
Sliced Almonds
Cacao Nibs
Directions
To make the crust, simply blend the almonds and the soaked dates in a blender or food processor until there are no more large pieces. Place some plastic wrap in a small pie dish (see my photo for size comparison) and then add the almond mixture inside, firmly pressing it into the pie dish evenly, so that it doesn’t fall apart and is the same thickness. If your mixture doesn’t not hold together enough, you can blend up another one or two dates and mix it into the mixture.
Once that is done, you can place the dish in the fridge whilst you are making the chocolate pudding/mousse. Making the pudding is easy. Get out a bowl, remove the skins from the ripe avocados and start to mash them with a spoon, fork or whatever else works for you. Add in the vanilla, sea salt, 2-3 tbs of cacao and then the sweetener. I would start off with less and add more if needed. I added in about 3 tbs and then mixed all the ingredients and if you want it sweeter, add in another tsp-tbs and go from there. If you don’t mind your pudding a bit lumpy, you don’t have to go super crazing on the mashing. If you have a powerful enough blender, you should also blend it, but mine isn’t up to it so I just do it manually. When you are happy with the texture and taste of the pudding, get out the pie dish with the almond crust and scoop in the pudding. If you have any leftover pudding, you can place it in the fridge and just eat it separately, which is what I have been doing. 😊 At this point I added some sliced almond and some vegan chocolate chips on top before I made and poured on the chocolate shell mixture. You could definitely skip the chocolate shell part and it would still be a great dessert.
Lastly, it is time to make the shell, which is also what I used to dip the strawberries in. Melt a couple of tbs of Coconut Oil so that it is in liquid form. Then add in a tbs of cacao powder, liquid sweetener to your taste, vanilla extract and the sea salt. Mix together well. Your mixture should be a little thick, but still runny. Make sure you do a taste test! Dip the ends of the strawberries into the chocolate mixture and place on some parchment paper (or a plate or tupperware) Next, drizzle the leftover chocolate over top of the chocolate pudding. Place back into the fridge until the the chocolate has firmed up and has created a shell (not a super hard one, but so that it has solidified from its liquid form.
Now it is ready to serve so you can either slice it into pie slices or just use a spoon to dive right in. Since it is so flavourful and decadent, I find that you only need a small serving, especially if you are serving it with some strawberries. It is lovely with coffee too, if you are a coffee fan.
Hope you enjoy!
