Banana Pear Pie

Banana Pear Pie

The Banana Pear Pie was one of my favourite sweet-goodness treats on twimii.

So when I tried this again making in 2013 and discovered – oh no… – the recipe I had on here wasn’t quite right. I was a bit disappointed. To say the least.

What was wrong?

The ingredients listed are correct but the measures were pure guesses. The crust in the original was a mix of whole almonds, dates, hot water and cornflour. But there is no way I used 80g (!?!) of the cornflour.

80g is a lot of cornflour.

How much did I actually use? I really have no idea. I used to just add things to the food mixer until I felt it looked about right. But that isn’t what I did in 2013. Instead I followed the recipe and the results were so bad that I decided to not add cornflour to the crust again. What had been a crumbly crust had turned into something close to lumpy baked glue.

So I wasn’t happy about that.

Updating the old (and often inaccurate) recipes

I only have two old recipes left to update. I left this one so late because I don’t know how to recreate what I did with this one. And I really loved it when I first made it. I did make it a couple of times again in the weeks after I’d made it the first time. I was so pleased that I had created a tasty and really really healthy dessert.

But then I got lazy and opted for bought treats – and just forgot the recipe.

The other one I’ve left so late was the Banana Apple Loaf. It may sound good. But it was terrible. I never should have posted it to begin with. Maybe I’ll try to come up with something that tastes as good as it sounds. Instead I made a Banana and Chocolate Chunks Loaf. Which sounds awful. But it’s delicious. Go figure.

So it was just the amount of cornflour that was incorrect in the original recipe?

Oh yeah – one ingredient that is totally wrong in the original is where I suggest using port as a substitute for grape juice. 1. I never used port in this recipe and 2. it’s very difficult to find vegan port – so just forget that tip.

Oh and another issue is that I could not find plain old grape juice this time around. I found juice blends that included grape juice but I couldn’t find grape juice by itself. Originally I heated the natural fruit juice from the tinned pears with some grape juice and thickened them into a sort of glaze with cornflour – and put this on top of the pie.

In one of my latest attempts at making the banana pear pie I used concentrated apple juice. It’s a different taste but it works fine.

I also found pears that are tinned in grape juice in M&S and I added 2 tablespoons of apple and pear juice to the apple juice. Then I boiled it down till it had thickened to a syrup. This makes a very small amount of syrup but it’s enough to glaze the top of the pie.

This is the point where I badly describe how I made a different vegan dessert.

Chocolate Orange Vegan Sweet Thing

I had been thinking of posting this for Paddy’s Day. Because I had suggested using port in the original recipe I thought – well why not suggest some glaze with alcohol that could easily be made vegan.

Rum – usually vegan

Rum is generally made in a  vegan-friendly. I really don’t like rum. White rum is fine – mixed with a lot of other stuff. Actually now that I think about it my favourite cocktails are all made with white rum… But the dark spiced kind – there is something in it that just doesn’t agree with me.

Anyway rum is usually vegan but I don’t have any. And the above paragraph was to explain why I didn’t want to buy any. But I did have a bottle of triple sec. I think triple sec is an orange flavoured white rum. So it’s usually vegan too.

pie crust ingredients
The pie crust: 100g pitted dates (softened and plumped up with hot water) and 100g whole almonds blended roughly in a food mixer. Then combined with 80g Maya Gold chocolate (it’s dark chocolate with an orange flavour) and a tablespoon of melted coconut oil.

No Rum is needed for this dessert

I wasn’t sure how well the pie would taste with a orange-ish glaze. So then I thought why not add some of that chocolate orange (Green & Blacks Maya Gold) to the pie crust? Then when I tasted the crust it was so good… I knew it would be wrong to top it with anything other than peeled orange segments and a small quantity of simple syrup. Maybe a simple syrup flavoured with orange zest and some triple sec? To be honest I’m not sure the triple sec adds anything to the taste –  you might as well leave it out.

Oh and I didn’t add any spice to the glaze.

chocolate-orange-goodness-pie
This tastes great – very simple vegan treat. Make a 7 inch “pie”.

Wait, what exactly is in a Chocolate Orange Vegan Sweet Thing?

The pie crust – as I’m calling it, is made with dates, whole almonds, coconut oil, a pinch of salt and a Green & Black’s  Maya Gold bar. So you could use the recipe for the Salty Chocolate Date and Almond Balls but just replace the cocoa powder with the orange chocolate bar. This is just mixed together and chilled. No baking for this one.

And then top your chilled pie with a simple orange flavored syrup, some peeled orange segments and some grated chocolate.

Why not post that? It sounds like a better dessert.

Because what I wanted to post was the banana pear pie. Or some version of it.

Get on with it then

The Banana Pear Pie

In the original version of this I had added a whole bunch of spices to the mashed banana. But this time I only added freshly ground pepper to the banana.

I ended up adding some more things to the mashed banana bit. Because I didn’t properly read the instructions on the original recipe. Because it’s my recipe. So I assumed that deep down I remembered what to do.

That assumption was incorrect.

So the mashed banana in the photo below is a mix of mashed banana, pepper, apple and pear juice, ground almonds and some coconut oil. Which I then baked for 20 minutes. It worked out fine. But plain mashed banana heated on the stove with fruit juice and black pepper is better. Or you can bake it which is what I suggest doing in the recipe below.

piece-of-pie
The pie when ground almonds have been added to the mashed banana bit.

This is not the corrected version of the original recipe.

OK so this recipe for Banana Pear Pie is a little different to the original. In taste as much as in ingredients and method. But it still is a very healthy and vegan dessert. It’s simpler to make. And it does taste a little of coconut which you may or may not like. It only tastes a little of coconut.

Oh just one final thing

The dates I’m using below are not the hard dried dates, they’re plumped up and moist. If the dates you have are not then you need to soak in them in hot water for about 20 minutes, remove them from the water and reserve the soaking water in case the mix of ground almonds and dates in the food mixer needs a little more moisture to blend properly. And you’ll need less of them probably about 150g instead of 200g.

ingredients for banana pear pie
Dates, whole almonds, coconut oil, salt, 3 large bananas, pears tinned in natural juice, pressed apple and pear juice (or just pressed apple juice is fine), pepper, cinnamon and cornflour.

Banana Pear Pie

Make 8" pie

Banana Pear Pie

Ingredients

    For pie crust
  • 200g pitted and soaked dates
  • 150g whole almonds
  • 1/2 - 1 teaspoon sea salt (to taste)
  • 3 tablespoons hot water
  • 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
  • For mashed banana bit
  • 2 large bananas, mashed
  • good pinch of freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
  • 75ml apple and pear juice (or just apple is fine if that's all you can find)
  • ground cinnamon or vanilla extract optional
  • For topping
  • 1 banana, sliced
  • 1 tin of pears, sliced, (preferably tinned in grape juice)
  • 100ml apple juice made from concentrate
  • ground cinnamon
  • vanilla extract optional
  • 1 heaped teaspoon cornflour

Instructions

    For the crust
  1. Heat the oven to 180C. Grease, with coconut or sunflower oil, a 8" pie dish.
  2. Put the almonds in a food mixer and mix briefly so that they are chopped very roughly. Add in the dates and mix again until it's all mixed together well. If it's not mixing properly because it's too dry add in 3 tablespoons of hot water and mix again. Stir in the coconut oil and salt. Add the salt a bit at a time, tasting until you've the right amount added.
  3. Place the almond-date mix into the pie dish and with your fingers work it so that it covers the base and sides of the dish. Bake in the oven for 10 - 15 minutes.
  4. For mashed banana bit
  5. Mash 2 bananas to a gooey consistency. To this add 2 tablespoons of melted coconut oil and the 75ml of apple and pear juice. Add a good pinch of fresh ground black pepper. Mashed banana can end up looking very grey - if this bothers you add in some cinnamon to give a slightly warmer colour.
  6. Add the mashed banana to your baked pie crust and bake for another 20 minutes at 160 C.
  7. Take out and leave to cool to room temperature before adding topping.
  8. For the topping
  9. Arrange the banana and pear slices on top of the pie.
  10. To make the glaze Add the fruit juices to a small saucepan and reduce down till it's thick enough to lightly coat the back of your spoon. Then stir in the cinnamon and vanilla so that it is all well combined. Pour the syrup over fruit slices.
  11. If the fruit juice simply won't thicken for you - which can happen if it doesn't contain enough sugar - blend the cornflour in a tablespoon of water, add to the pan, stir constantly as you bring it to boil. Once it has thickened take off the heat. Stir in the cinnamon and vanilla and pour over the fruit slices.
  12. Enjoy! Good with a good cup of black coffee.
http://twimii.com/recipes/banana-pear-pie/

soaking-dates
If you’re using dried dates you need to soak them in hot water first.
The mix is quite sticky – so maybe don’t use a fluted pie dish ;-)
lazier-approach
So if you don’t want to add cinnamon but you do want to colour the banana mix a bit you could add vanilla (that’s vanilla in the ramekin on the left mixed up with coconut oil)
Pie assembled – with the apple concentrate topping – in case you’re curious…
Simple, nutty, fruity, healthy and surprisingly tasty.
piece-of-pie
Have a slice.
So which was better? OK, they’re both good. But come on, this one’s got chocolate. And it’s – it’s … really really good. If you try one vegan pie today make it this one.