Paleo Chocolate Cranberry Pie Recipe

Are you a chocolate lover? I am. While I adore eating locally and in season, I’ve always known that one non-local food I would never give up (barring a zombie apocalypse) is chocolate.

Yet being a chocolate lover is hard for Real Foodies like us. That’s because too many yummy chocolate desserts are full of nasties we strive to avoid.

That sugar? Likely from genetically-modified sugar beets! That soy-lecithin? From genetically-modified soybeans. That flour used in the crust or batter? Full of the allergenic gluten (which so many of us are trying to avoid).

I’m going to take this opportunity to share with you the dessert I’ve decide to prepare, a dark chocolate cranberry pie. I’ve already made it multiple times before and it’s simply amazing. It’s almost a guarantee that chocolate and cranberries will go over well with anyone. The bitter taste of the dark chocolate goes perfectly with the sour taste of the cranberries. Both tastes can be quite strong on their own, but together they become a perfect combination that tastes great. Overall, the recipe is quite simple to prepare, but it does require quite a bit of cooling time in the fridge. I can only recommend that you make it in advance if you plan on serving it to guests. I found this recipe in book "Paleo Recipe Book".

Chocolate cranberry pie recipe:

Crust ingredients:

    2 cups almond flour;
    ½ tsp salt;
    2 tbsp coconut oil;
    1 egg;

Filling and topping ingredients:

    ½ cup coconut milk (or cream if you allow it in your diet);
    8 oz chocolate (70% cocoa);
    18 oz frozen cranberries;

 Preparation:

    Preheat your oven to 375 F.

    Like most pies, you’ll start by preparing the crust first. This one is nice and easy, all you have to do is throw all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix them well in either a blender, or by using a hand-mixer. A crumbly dough will form.

    Transfer the dough into a lightly greased 9” pie baking dish. Using your fingers, press the dough firmly into the dish and make an inner shell with it so that the dish is evenly covered. I made a simple trim on my crust, just a little detail, but this is not necessary.

    Place the crust in the oven and cook for about 15 minutes, just until it begins to turn golden brown around the edges and is flaky to the touch.

    While your crust is baking, begin working on preparing the filling. In a small sauce pan over a medium-high heat, bring the coconut milk to a simmer. Once it has started to simmer, immediately remove it from the heat and begin stirring in the chocolate. Continue stirring until the chocolate is completely melted.

    Once the crust has finished baking, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool completely.
    Pour the chocolatey filling into the pie shell and then place the whole pie dish into the fridge for anywhere from 2 hours to 1 day. Essentially, you want the filling to become more solid to the touch.

    With the oven at 375 F again, take out the frozen cranberries, spread them out on a baking sheet and bake them for about 8 to 10 minutes, tossing them around once or twice to avoid them from sticking. Once they have blistered and are soft, remove them from the oven and transfer them to the fridge.

They will need at least an hour in the refrigerator, this will keep them from getting mushy. After the pie and the cranberries have been in the fridge long enough, spoon the berries on top of the pie and its ready to be served.

P.S. Have a look at the Paleo Recipe Book. It's a cookbook I've found that help you cook the best Paleo food. It contains more than 350 recipes and covers everything you'll need.