Chocolate Lovers Pie

Calling all chocolate lovers, I have a succulent recipe for your eating pleasure.  Behold, chocolate cream pie.  This one (recipe #45) however, unlike the majority of others in its family, is gluten-free AND refined sugar-free!  The texture of it is lovely.  Silky smooth.  The flavor is rich and chocolatey, but the pie itself is light.  Be careful, it would be easy to eat several slices of this one in one sitting.

Chocolate Lovers Pie

Crust

1.5 cup of crushed hazelnuts or almonds (you can crush them yourself using a food processor or buy them already ground up, which is what I do.  They sell these in the baking aisle).

4 tablespoons of cocoa powder

5-6 tablespoons of coconut oil, melted

2 tablespoons of maple syrup

Filling

6 tablespoons of coconut oil, melted

1 cup of coconut milk (the kind in a can with the part on top a creamy almost-solid consistency and underneath that, a watery liquid layer.  Just use the solid creamy layer on top.  NOT the watery stuff on the bottom).

7 tablespoons of maple syrup

12 tablespoons of cocoa powder

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

 

1. Mix the ingredients for the crust together in a medium size bowl until a coarse meal is formed. Press this into the bottom of an 8 or 9 inch round cake pan (any size really, your choice).  Set aside.
2. For the filling, stir together the melted coconut oil, maple syrup and the vanilla extract. Mix this into the coconut milk (the coconut milk will have the consistency of something similar to cool whip, though slightly thicker).
3. Once everything is combined, stir in the cocoa powder until the cream filling is solid in color (aka chocolate).
4. Spread the filling evenly over the crust.
5. Place in the fridge for at least 3 hours to chill, though I recommend overnight to set fully.

Remove from the fridge just before eating.  Because of the coconut oil, this pie will somewhat melt if kept at room temperature for long.  Therefore, its best to remove from the fridge literally just before you plan to eat it.

Leftovers can be kept for 4-5 days, stored in an airtight container in the fridge.