Vegan Paleo Custard Strawberry Pie

Today, I finally went to the farmer’s market for the first time since I moved into town, seven years ago. My partner was looking for a fun way to celebrate our anniversary. He suggested all sorts of activities along the lines of zip lining and other adrenaline producing activities. I’ve been feeling awfully nauseated lately, so I pointed out that I’d be much happier just walking around the farmer’s market. To his surprise, he ended up enjoying it quite a bit.

I made this pie last week when my partner came home from a difficult day at work. One of the many good things about using coconut shavings instead of pie crust is the amount of time saved. This is especially true of a lot of gluten free crusts that don’t roll out as well as the wheat flour alternative.

If you want to know the truth, my partner and I finished this pie in one sitting. Rather than cutting it into slices, we dug in with our forks. I wish I’d made more.

Vegan Paleo Custard Strawberry Pie

Ingredients

For the crust:
1 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
6 tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsp maple syrup

For the custard:
1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut milk (not the canned stuff)
2 tbsp arrowroot powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
Maple syrup to taste (I used about 3-4 tbsp)

Sliced strawberries to cover

Directions
Combine the coconut oil and shredded coconut in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Make sure the shavings gets evenly coated as the oil melts. Once it’s evenly coated, add the maple syrup. Toss it regularly to avoid burning it. When it’s nice and brown, remove it from the heat and transfer it to a bowl. Refrigerate while you prepare the filling.

Combine about 1/4 cup of the coconut milk with all of the arrowroot powder and mix until it’s a uniform paste. Pour in the rest of the custard ingredients and mix well. You can make the custard in the microwave or on the stove top.

Microwave: Pour the mixture into a microwave save dish with a lid (a pyrex type dish). Microwave for two minutes. Take it out and stir it. Put it in for another two minutes, and then stir it again. Microwave it for an additional minute and a half and mix it again. If at any point it looks like it’s going to boil over, pause the microwave time and resume it after about 30 seconds.

Stovetop: In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, keep stirring the mixture until it comes to a boil. Remove immediately from heat.

Take out the mixture for the crust from the fridge and pat it down evenly in a pie pan or a pie dish. Pour the custard on top. You’ll probably need to spread it a bit.

Refrigerate it while you wash and slice the strawberries. When that’s done, take it out again and place the strawberries on top. If you’re smarter than me, you’ll place the strawberries in a way that allows for easy cutting of pie slices.