2 Fabulous Raw Vegan Desserts To Be Grateful For This Thanksgiving

~ by Joanna Steven & Dr. Joanne L. Mumola Williams

This Thanksgiving don’t sacrifice health or taste. These 2 desserts are guaranteed to please without thwarting your health efforts. In fact, as they are full of fruit and nuts with no added sugar, they will actually contribute to your glow.

Raw Vegan Pear and Apple Crisp with Raisins

The juicy pears and crispy apples make a great combination.

If you’ve never tried a raw crisp before, you won’t believe how good it is. The crisp is sweetened by the fruit itself along with the Medjool dates and seedless raisins. There is no added sugar. Nor is there any butter. The only fat is that from the heart healthy almonds and walnuts. This dessert is low in saturated fat and has zero cholesterol and nearly 6 grams of fiber per serving. The walnuts alone provide almost 1 g of omega 3 per serving.

Ingredients:

For the Crisp

1/2 cup raw almonds
3/4 cup raw walnuts
3 Medjool dates, unsoaked
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt

For the Filling

3 cups thinly sliced, peeled, and cored pears
3 cups thinly sliced, peeled, and cored apples
2 teaspoons Fruit-Fresh produce protector
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
4 Medjool dates, pitted and soaked for 1 hour
1/4 cup seedless raisins

Directions:

To make the crisp, place the almonds in a food processor with an S blade and process until coarse.
Add walnuts, dates, cinnamon, and salt and process until the mixture begins to stick together.
Remove mixture and set aside.
Don’t wash the food processor, you’ll be using it again.
To make the filling, place the pears and apples in a large bowl and toss with the Fruit-Fresh produce protector.
Remove one cup of this filling and place in the food processor.
Drain the soaked dates but don’t squeeze out the moisture.
Add them and the nutmeg to the food processor and process until smooth, scraping down the sides when necessary.
Stir the mixture into the bowl of sliced fruit along with the raisins.
Spread 1/3 of the crisp on the bottom of an 8″ x 8″ pan.
Place all of the filling on top of it.
Sprinkle the remaining crisp over the filling.
Serve immediately or refrigerate.
It will keep for several days. (Serves 8)

Raw Vegan Pecan Pie Tarts

Traditional pecan pie is made from processed white flour, lots of sugar and corn syrup, butter and eggs. This delicious raw dessert has no processed sugar – it’s sweetened by dates. Three kinds of heart-healthy nuts are used in this tart: English walnuts, cashews, and, of course, pecans. Some ground flaxseeds are added to the crust to optimize the omega 6 to omega 3 balance to 4:1.

But as “non-processed” as it may be, this dessert is still very rich, so save it for special occasions like the upcoming holidays. You also only need to eat a small portion.

Tart Pans

These are made using 4-1/2″ tart pans with 3/4-inch sides. You can find some on the King Arthur website. You can use others that are close to that dimension. But whatever you use, a fluted tart pan is very elegant.

Ingredients:

For the crust

Some extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil to grease the tart pans
3/4 cup raw English walnut pieces
4 teaspoons dried, shredded, and unsweetened coconut
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 large Medjool dates, pitted
4 teaspoons ground flaxseeds

For the filling

10 large Medjool dates, pitted and soaked for 1 hour
Some reserved date soak water
1/3 cup raw cashews, soaked 6 hours or more
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon unrefined virgin coconut oil, softened
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
20 perfect, raw pecan halves

Directions:

You’ll need two 4-1/2 inch tart pans with removable bottoms.
Oil the insides of each tart pan with extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil.
To make the crust, place English walnuts, coconut, salt and cinnamon in a food processor with an S blade. Process until crumbly.
Add dates and ground flaxseeds, then process until the mixture begins to stick together.
Divide the mixture among the two tart pans and press firmly into the bottom and up the sides of the pans.
You can use your fingers or the back of a teaspoon. (No need to clean the food processor, you’ll be using it again).
To make the filling, drain the dates reserving the soak water. Drain and rinse the cashews.
Place the dates, cashews, lime juice, vanilla extract, coconut oil, and sea salt in the food processor and process until smooth, scraping down the sides often. If it is too dry, add 1 tablespoon of the reserved date water, but only if needed. Save the rest of the date water to sweeten your morning smoothie.
Fill the crust-filled tart pans with the date filling.
Top each tart with 10 pecan halves.
Refrigerate for several hours.
Carefully push the tart up and remove from the sides of the pan.
You can serve tarts on their removable disk or carefully try to remove it.

Joanna Steven is an Amazon best-selling author, and the founder of The Nourished Village, a nurturing community for moms and their families. She regularly shares kid-friendly vegetarian recipes on her blog, and interacts with other moms on her Facebook page and Twitter account.
You can find Dr. Joanne L. Mumola Williams @ www.FoodsForLongLife.com

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