The truth is that I never liked Vasilopitta and I am one of those people that take their slice and squeeze it with their hands just to see if they got the flouri without even trying the pie. At the end of the day, it’s just another good marketing cake, packed with lots of sugar to appeal to the eye. So, making my own Vasilopitta which would enable me to actually enjoy eating it, seemed like a good challenge during the holidays. The truth is that at first, I was a bit carried away and I thought to add some carrot to make the taste more interesting, but I realized that the pie would end up being a carrot cake and step away from the original intention: the search for the most delicious, hygienic Vasilopitta. I came up with the following recipe, which is a little dull with all these fruits in it, but on the other hand it keeps the basics of Vasilopitta: orange, walnuts and flour.
Ingredients
For the pie:
– 2 cups of almonds
– 1 cup of walnuts
– 1 cup of buckwheat flour
– 2 slices of pineapple
– 1 overripe banana
– Juice and zest from a large orange
– Half a cup of almond milk
– Half a cup of dates
– Half a cup of coconut oil
– ½ cup of raisins
– 3 spoons of chia seeds
– 1 spoon of cinnamon
– 1 small piece of ginger
– 1 tsp baking powder
For the glaze:
– 1 overripe banana
– 1 avocado
– 3 spoons of maple syrup
– 6 dates
– 1 spoon of almond butter
– 1 tsp cinnamon
– A little cocoa powder for the lettering
Preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius. Put the walnuts in the food processor and blend them for a while until they turn into small pieces, which you set aside. Blend the almonds in the food processor for about 1 minute until they turn like flour. Add all the base ingredients in the processor except from walnuts and raisins and blend until a homogeneous mixture is made. In a large bowl, put the mixture of the base, walnuts and raisins and stir. Grease (with coconut oil or olive oil) a metallic tray with a detachable base and then add the mixture and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes. You’ll know it’s ready when it gets colourful and passes the knife test.
To make the glaze, mix all the ingredients in a food processor. Spread the glaze on the pie and if you’re up for it, you can shape the number of the year on a greaseproof paper. You take a large piece of greaseproof paper and cut around it using a plate. In the centre of the circle. paint the year and cut the numbers with a cutter to form “2016”. Then, put the circular border on the pie and sprinkle (through a strainer) the gaps with cocoa powder so that 2016 is formed!
Happy New Year everyone!