Disclaimer: If you're already familiar with my no-bake lime cheesecake shooters, you'll recognize that this post is a bit of a rehash, but I think this crust is such a problem-solver it deserves a post of its own.
This crazy-simple crust is made of: pecans! That's it! No butter needed. So it's completely gluten-free, pretty low carb, and you can be assured there's no weird man-made chemicals in it. (Pecan nutrition facts here.)
In the photo below, you can see two different blender blades that came with my bullet-style blender (currently my favorite kitchen gadget). The four-bladed piece (top center in the photo) chops things up from coarse to fairly fine, depending on how long you run it. The shorter, two-bladed one (on the left) minces things down to a fine powder or -- in the case of nuts -- butter.
Then you just place a small amount of ground nuts in the bottom of your serving vessel, and tamp it down with the top of a bottle (securely capped and very clean, of course). I use these little shot glasses (actually votive holders form Hobby Lobby), and 1 tablespoon of pecan crumbs works perfectly.
And you're done! With the crust, that is. Fill it with your favorite no-bake pie filling, chill, and you've got a healthy, easy -- not to mention adorable -- dessert.
Here are various dishes you could serve such in:
Cheap-o "shot glasses" (votive holders) from Hobby Lobby; you could also find these at Walmart, etc. I'm sure.
4 oz. Mason jars. If you keep the filling short enough, you can cap these for easy, spill-proof portability.
This crazy-simple crust is made of: pecans! That's it! No butter needed. So it's completely gluten-free, pretty low carb, and you can be assured there's no weird man-made chemicals in it. (Pecan nutrition facts here.)
In the photo below, you can see two different blender blades that came with my bullet-style blender (currently my favorite kitchen gadget). The four-bladed piece (top center in the photo) chops things up from coarse to fairly fine, depending on how long you run it. The shorter, two-bladed one (on the left) minces things down to a fine powder or -- in the case of nuts -- butter.
In the pic below you can see the difference. The left-hand image shows the pecans after running them with the four-blade piece for a few seconds. This would work just fine for crust if this is all you have. But if you have the second kind of blade, you can grind the pecan pieces until they're so fine they begin to stick together, like in the image on the right, below. This gives you something with the look and consistency of a crust made of graham crackers and butter. Neat, huh?!
And you're done! With the crust, that is. Fill it with your favorite no-bake pie filling, chill, and you've got a healthy, easy -- not to mention adorable -- dessert.
Here are various dishes you could serve such in:
6-oz. Libby glass bowls with plastic lids. Ditto on the portability.
Weck jars. Available in sizes from 3 to 6 oz.
Pricey but adorable individual pie pans. 8 oz; also available in olive.
(Disclosure: Some of these links go to my Amazon store.)
3 comments:
That is SO clever! I feel like this could work with most nuts. I always notice that crumbly/sticky stage when I'm making nut butter.
Two questions - if I did want to use this for a cheesecake or pie that required baking, do you think it would be too crumbly or fall apart without the butter? And second, can you taste that the crust is unsweetened? Thanks so much!!
About being too crumbly... If you're making individual servings in mason jars or ramekins, it probably doesn't matter. For a larger item to be sliced, I don't know. It might depend on how finely ground and tightly packed the crust is.
About being unsweetened... If the rest of the dessert is sweet enough, it's not a problem. But if you want some sweetness in the crust, you could add some pine nuts -- they're quite sweet all on their own! I haven't tried them, but I bet they'd make a great gluten-free, sugar-free crust!
Also, if you're baking it, you do need to make sure the crust doesn't burn. If you're making for a special occasion, I'd do a test beforehand.
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