The holidays are coming up fast here and that means comfort food with family and excess calories that don’t count! I’m going to be honest here, I only put chia seeds in here to make me feel better about eating half a pie by myself. Ok fine, the whole thing. Hey I am getting my omega-3’s which are super important so don’t judge me! Not only are chia seeds awesome for your health, when they combine with liquid they make a thick jelly like substance. Pecan pie normally has a gooey consistency to it so that jelly like base works out perfect. So let’s get to baking so you too can eat an entire pie and still feel good about it because it’s “HEALTHY”. Yeah I tell myself that, you try eating just one slice of this pie, it ain’t gonna happen my friend!

With any pie you have to start with the crust. Now you can be super awesome and make your own which is actually not very difficult or you could save some time and buy it. Just make sure it’s vegan because a lot of pie crusts have lard in them. For this recipe we will not bake the crust first. Preheat your oven to 375°.

After you’ve decided if you’re an overachiever with your crust or not it’s time to make the best part, the filling! Like I said the chia seed is really the base of this pie and because it takes 15 minutes to set up get this ready first by making 3 chia seed “eggs” (1 TBSP chia seed, 1/3 cup water to make one egg). So you need to do that 3 times and stir. Stir once every 5 minutes to make sure it’s combining correctly. While waiting for that to thicken  melt 8 TBSP (one stick) of vegan butter in the microwave for 45 seconds. If the butter isn’t completely melted add 15 more seconds at a time until it is.  Add in 3/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup corn syrup, stir until completely combined. Next add dash of salt and 2 TSP vanilla (or more if you want). Once the 15 minutes for your chia seed jelly is up incorporate it into the rest of the ingredients. Lastly, fold in 1 cup chopped pecans. Place the filling into the pie crust and bake at 375 for 45 minutes. At 45 minutes check your pie by gently moving it to see if the liquid moves, if it does bake at 5 minute increments until it is mostly set. Don’t worry if there is some jiggle it will thicken once out of the heat. I personally like my pie crust almost burnt so I never cover mine, but if you prefer you may cover it for the first 30 minutes so it doesn’t get so dark. Let the pie cool so it can thicken by placing it into the fridge covered, serve, and then you tell me if you could eat just ONE SLICE!

Pecan Chia Seed Pie

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Ingredients:

• • 3 chia seed eggs (1 TBSP chia seed, 1/3 cup water PER EGG)
  • 8 TBSP vegan butter melted
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup corn syrup
  • dash of salt
  • 2 TSP vanilla
  • 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Preheat oven 375°
2. Make crust or thaw out crust per package directions.
3. Make 3 chia seed eggs by combing 3 TBSP chia seed and 1 cup water. Let this set for 15 minutes, while you wait melt vegan butter in the microwave. To the melted butter add sugar, corn syrup, salt, and vanilla. Once the chia seed eggs are done thickening add them to the filling mixture. Fold in chopped pecans.
4. Bake for 45 minutes, covered for the first 30 minutes if you do not wish to have a super dark crust. At 45 minutes check if done by slightly moving pie, if the center is still very liquid like bake at 5 minute increments until it is only slightly moving. The pie will thicken once you take it out and cool it.
5. Let pie cool and serve!

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I hope you enjoy this holiday favorite, contact me with any questions. Don’t forget to follow me to keep up to date on my posts and get new recipes!