This recipe is inspired from years of working for Cafe Gratitude and serving up all sorts of delicious raw pies. This one was always my favorite, and a customer favorite as well. 

Ayurveda recognizes that raw food is more difficult to digest in general, because your agni (digestive fire)  has to cook everything down itself. But I have found on a hot summer’s day, the cooling and hydrating properties of the coconut make this pie balancing and revitalizing for those blazing temps. It’s my go to for any summer celebration, and a way to really WOW your guests. They won’t believe you when you tell them its just coconut and dates!

I love to have this with some cooked berries for breakfast! My personal favorite time to enjoy dessert! Then you have the rest of the day to digest it! 

 Be warned, if you are not familiar with cracking young thai coconuts, make sure to watch some youtube videos before you approach that coconut with a knife in hand. Once you know how to; enjoy the extra water you will have from the coconuts required to make this recipe.

HOW TO CHOOSE ORGANIC YOUNG THAI COCONUTS 

From years of experience, one of two things can happen when you buy a coconut. You can get too much water that is really sweet tasting but there is little to no meat; or you can get just enough water, and one with plenty of meat on the inside. 

My trick. When choosing three out of a stack of 10 or so, pick everyone up and choose the lightest ones in weight. The lighter it is- the more meat is on the inside. The heavier it is- the more coconut water is on the inside. This technique can save you from having to buy 5 coconuts for one pie- just to get enough meat. ( I always buy 3 for this recipe just in case, better to have more meat then not enough).

Lastly, make sure they are ORGANIC. Conventional coconuts are sprayed with fungicides and other harmful chemicals while they are grown. In general, there is no non-organic food I recommend clients buy, and especially not coconuts. 

HOW TO PREPARE FRESH COCONUT MILK 

The first thing you need to do when making it from scratch is to crack open those coconuts. 

Begin by placing the coconut on its side. With a sharp chef’s knife begin to shave the top portion of the husk off, exposing the inner shell. Thai young coconuts have a pre-shaved pointed tip on the top, and this is the part you want to shave down. 

Now that you have shaved the husk off the top you are going to use the square corner of the blade (near the knife’s handle), and begin tapping the exposed coconut shell, going around in a circle, until you have created a lid. If this technique doesn’t work for you, you tube search for someone doing it. Youtube has EVERYTHING. 

Then with a metal spoon begin scraping the coconut meat from the husk. Then I like to add water to my bowl of coconut meat and set it to the side. Then get another clean empty bowl next to you. Now begin to clean off any small bits of the inner shell that is on the meat. They will look like brown fibrous bits. Once that is done you simply add 1 cup of the meat to 1 ¾  cups of the coconut water and blend in a high speed blender for two minutes. At this point I also blend up my whole vanilla bean so it really gets blended well for the pie. 

INGREDIENTS:

COCONUT CRUST:

2 ½ cups coconut flakes 

4 ½ ounces of minced dates 

¼ tsp vanilla extract 

¼ tsp salt 

COCONUT DATE FILLING

2 ½ cups coconut milk 

3/4 cup fresh coconut meat (could add more, it will make it thicker)

1 whole Tahitian or madagascar vanilla bean ( or 2 tsp vanilla extract)

½ cup minced dates, compressed
¼ tsp salt 

⅛ tsp cardamom powder 

2 tbsp sunflower lecithin (or soy lecithin)

½ cup coconut oil 

TOPPING:

½ cup coconut flakes 

INSTRUCTIONS:

For the crust:

1. Place all the ingredients in a food processor. 

2. Process all the ingredients and when the crust starts to rise on the sides, stop the machine and press it down with a spatula. 

3. Repeat this last step 2 or 3 times until the mixture is well broken down and sticking together. 

4. Next lightly grease your 9 inch pie pan with coconut oil. 

5. Distribute the crust evenly on the bottom and sides of the pie pan and lightly compact with your hand. Decorate the edge of your crust to your liking. 

For the Filling:

1. You will first measure out and blend your coconut milk, using the water and meat from your coconuts. As mentioned above use 1 3/4 cup coco H2O and 1 cup of the meat. Then blend in a high speed blender or vita-mix. You can also blend your whole vanilla bean in this step. 

2. Then add the rest of the ingredients in the blender except for the coconut oil and lecithin. Blend until it's smooth and creamy, usually for 3-5 minutes. 

3. Stop blending and add the lecithin and melted coconut oil 

4. Resume blending until oil is well incorporated. 

5. Pour filling into the pie pan with prepared crust. 

6. Place on the shelf in the refrigerator and chill for at least 6-10 hours or until firm. 

7. Garnish with coconut flakes and try to just eat one piece!

This pie will hold in the fridge for at least three days. Keep covered in the fridge.