{VERY Healthy Dessert - Sweet Potato Pie}

Well, by now you obviously know I am fasting at the moment, and I had a brain wave for a 'dessert' the other night. I made version one last week, but burned the crust and therefore couldn't get a good idea of the taste and certainly wasn't going to take photos of it like that.

So, today I made version two.....and was SO happy with the result. This is a dairy free, wheat free and artificial sugar free Pie.

INGREDIENTS:
Crust
- 250g nuts (I used 100g cashews, 100g cashews & 50 g walnuts)
- 2 heaped dessert spoons of nut butter (you can buy all sorts of varieties in the health food isle)
- 2 dessert spoons of maple syrup (could use honey)

Filling
- 3 sweet potato (could substitute for pumpkin)
- 1 banana
- approx 80g apple sauce (the jar I had in the fridge had grown into a science experiment [eww] so I used a long life apple raspberry puree I had in the pantry which was 80g - about 1/2 cup)
- 1 dessert spoon of chia seeds (these are very healthy and act as a thickener - more info here)
- 1 dessert spoon cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 cup of natural maple syrup (not flavoured syrup or honey)





METHOD:
1. Peal, chop and steam the sweet potato
2. Preheat oven to 150'C
3. In your food processor, grind up the nuts until resembling crumbs. Add the nut butter and maple syrup until it rolls into a ball in the processor and combines nicely.
4. Press into a flan/ tart tin and press into the base and sides to make a pastry-like base.
5. Place in the oven for about 15 mins or until golden. Keep an eye on it, (because time got away from me the first time I made it).
6. Place the sweet potato (once cooked and soft) into the food processor a bit at a time until smooth (don't worry about rinsing it after making the base crust, the ingredients blend together well).
7. Add the other ingredients into the smooth sweet potato mixture and blend together.
8. Place the mixture into the nut crust base.
9. Turn the oven off and place the finished pie into the "dead oven" and allow to 'bake' for about 10 minutes or until filling is firm.



Slice up and serve with fresh berries, pear or other seasonal fruit.
For those fasting, on restrictive diets or those that love healthy food, this is a real treat!

I took it to a family dinner as a substitute for dessert for myself. One person loved the crust, but wasn't keen on the filling (would probably have to add brown sugar or something to the filling to satisfy that one). MANY loved it and I got a lot of positive comments about the attempt to make such a healthy and guilt free dessert. When you haven't had ANY sugar in 2 weeks, it is quite a nice treat!

Lauren x