Amede Pecan Pie Bars
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~ raw, vegan, gluten-free, Paleo ~
I bet many of you are questioning the name of these bars. I created this recipe last week as I was preparing for our “Goodbye” potluck, as we were heading off to Alaska.
A dear friend of ours, Leslie, came to the party and fell head-over-heels for these bars. She asked that I name them after her. So to honor her, I did just that!
Amede Pecan Pie Bars.
Leslie is Nigerian, and her root name is, Amede (pronounced Aaah-me, Amie :) It means “Life given Water” and “Loved by a multitude” How special is that! So here you go, my dear Leslie. :) This bar turned out divine.
Nobody could get over the fact that this was a raw dessert, which is common with most raw desserts. I will be making this again for sure! What a great dessert come Fall. You could quickly adapt this into a pie pan and serve it as a pie. Oooooh, and with raw vanilla bean ice cream… Hmmm, my wheels are turning.
4/2015 Update – I originally posted this recipe back in 2010. I made this for some company that is coming to visit, so I thought that I would update the photos. The recipe is untouched. You can present this recipe cut into bar shapes (which I did initially) or in slices as pictured here.
Ingredients:
Yields 9×9″ square or 7″ round Springform pan
Crust:
Filling:
- 1 cup raw pecans, soaked & dehydrated
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1 1/2 cups Medjool dates, pitted
- 1/2 Tbsp almond extract
- 1/4 tsp Himalayan pink salt
- 1 tsp ground Ceylon cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Topping:
Preparation:
Crust:
- In the food processor, using your “S” blade, process the macadamia nuts and salt to a dough-like consistency.
- Be careful to not over-process.
- If you do, you will release too much of the oil found in the nuts.
- Press “crust” in the springform pan.
Filling:
- In the food processor, break the pecans down to a fine dust. Set aside in a bowl.
- Back in the food processor bowl combine the; water, maple syrup, dates, almond extract, salt, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper. Process together.
- If the dates are really dry, it will best to rehydrate them. Place in a bowl and add enough hot water to cover them. Let them sit for 10 minutes.
- Once they are done soaking, drain, and discard the soak water. Hand-squeeze the excess water from them.
- By rehydrating them, it will make it much easier to process them into a paste.
- To make Paleo, omit the agave.
- Add in the ground pecans and blend to a beautiful paste.
- Layer the filling on top of the crust and add the roughly chopped pecans.
- Chill for a few hours to firm it up a bit.
- Cut into squares, serve and enjoy!
- Note – the filling layer softens when left out at room temp.
- I recommend freezing this dessert. Once frozen, cut into serving sizes and serve.
- Store leftovers, single-serving pieces in the fridge for up to 5-7 days, or in the freezer for 1 month.
© AmieSue.com
Tags: Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Soy Free, Vegan
Hi Amie, what size spring form pan is this and can I place it in a square glass dish? I have made these before with half the recipe….mmmm…so divine!… and I will be serving these at a raw potluck tomorrow so I’m wondering how many it will serve? mahalo! Jennifer
Good evening Jennifer,
I LOVE this recipe. You can use a square glass dish. If you do, I recommend lining it with parchment paper or plastic wrap. It will make it easier to remove. I think my Springform pan that I used for this was a 9×9. I am traveling right now so I can’t run measure it. haha But in all honesty, you could use any pan, and any shape desired. That won’t effect the flavor. :) Enjoy and keep me posted how well they are received. :)
hmmm, I’ve made this three times in last few weeks, ( and I don`t use to do the same recipe over and over) and looking forward for the next round.. love it :-) thank you
Hello Lucia,
That is the beauty of raw recipes, you can tweak them to match what ingredients you have on hand. So happy to hear that you are enjoying them!
Hallo amie-sue, have you tried to freeze these ? Thanks
Hi Lucia – personally I haven’t but I sent these home with a dear friend of ours and to savor them over time, she put them in the fridge and ate off of them for about a month. She said they were perfect.
I was wondering on the 2 cups of raw pecans for the topping, what does soaked and dehydrated mean?? Not sure what to do??? This raw food is new to me!!
Thanks,
Carla
Carla,
Pleas click on the link that takes you to a post regarding the soaking / dehydrating process. This will help you understand about raw nuts in the raw world. If you have further questions, please let me know. amie sue
This will be the sweet course for the coming week. Thanks.
Ben, you seem so organized! I love it!
Thanks! I’m not a “love-to-make-things to eat” type, so I make enough food for a week over the weekend.
I made these bars tonight. It is, as usual, a terrific recipe. I’d made pecan bars before using a recipe from another site (this was before i came upon your site)–but they don’t come close to your recipe.
The macadamia crust is a great idea.
Also: I used slivered raw almonds to top instead of pecans–thought they’d play on the almond extract theme.
I love your approach Ben… I need to make a batch of these bars again. my husband teases me because he loves all these foods I make but he says the problem with an artist like me is that every dish is a one of a kind and then I am on to the next.lol I had to make him the good ole trusty Key-lime Cheesecake the other day just to prove to him that he can still get to enjoy the ole time favorites. :)
I like the mac crust too… kind of buttery tasting to me.
Well, have a wonderful weekend. amie sue
Hello Amie-Sue! Thank you so much for so many wonderful recipes, I probably visit this site at least once a day :). Just making some food gifts to give away for christmas presents and wondering about how long these following recipes will last for, and which ones need to be in the fridge (I don’t want to give anything in a package that will melt right away). The recipes are: Amede Pecan Pie Bars, Chocolate Chip Banada Bread Bars, Chocolate Coconut Covered Almonds, Peppermint Christmas Pinwheels, Almond Butter Cookies, and Lemon Pistachio Wreaths. Thanks!
-Lee
Good afternoon Lee… so good to hear from you. I am thankful that you visit my site often and find inspiration. :) Let me see if I can help you out here…
Amede Pecan Pie Bars ~ they won’t melt but I would keep them in the fridge until you give them away. A fun way to package this would be in a tin container, something to where you don’t have to cut them and place them loose. If that makes sense. Like a pan of fudge.
Chocolate Chip Banada Bread Bars – these would be perfect. They can stay out of the fridge, they just keep longer when in the fridge or freezer.
Chocolate Coconut Covered Almonds – good choice, just keep from the car heater when delivering. hehe
Peppermint Christmas Pinwheels – perfect
Almond Butter Cookies – perfect
Lemon Pistachio Wreaths – perfect
Bottom line, these are all good choices. We are dealing with raw ingredients so to ensure freshness, try to give them as gifts shortly after making. Most raw foods tend to even better after the 1st day because it gives the ingredients time to meld together. I am not sure how you are wrapping them… but if you give an assortment, keep in mind what treats that you have that contain more moisture than others and keep them separate. If you have any more questions just let me know. I hope this helped. Oh, and granolas are perfect for gift giving too! I love packaging them up in mason jars. They will last for sure.
This was so helpful! Thanks so much for the quick reply, I’m going to start on them right away :).
Your more than welcome. :)
Oh, I forgot to ask if I can susbstitute Macadamia nuts for Cashews in this Amede Bars recipe.
Yes Lee, that ought to be just fine. Enjoy and have fun! I would love to hear about the out come. Blessings, amie sue
hi
i am following a 5 100 calorie meal bar diet. their guidelines are 100 calories per meal bar with 10 gm of protein.
i love what you are doing. so very coole.
how would i find out the nutritional content as i want to stay sugar and carbo free…
thanks
edd aka lalo en chapala jalisco
Hi Edward,
You can use nutritional data sites were you can plug the ingredients and quantities in and it will tell you that. Here is one that I have used in the past.
http://nutritiondata.self.com/mynd/myrecipes/welcome?returnto=/mynd/myrecipes
Have a wonderful evening! amie sue
Amy, Since I’m hypeglycemic. I cant have Dates. What can I subsitute it with. Bummer as I love dates. UGH
Good morning Mountain Mama,
There really isn’t a solid substitution right off the bat, the recipe would need to be stripped down and redone completely. I read an article on dates and blood sugar, you find it interesting. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/are-dates-good-for-diabetics#dates-and-diabetes
I do know that you know your body more than anyone so you need to do what is best for you. I wish you best, blessings. amie sue