Salted Caramel Brownie Pie is a chocolate lovers dream! This recipe is actually four separate recipes I have been working on. As I was making each one, I thought they would taste unbelievably good together. I mean, who doesn't love caramel, chocolate and sea salt? So I thought for a while on how to get four recipes together...and voila! Salted Caramel Brownie Pie was born!
How to make Salted Caramel Brownie Pie:
The first layer which is the crust, is a vegan chocolate cookie. The cookie recipe has chocolate chips but I took them out leaving just the dough. The second layer is a raw brownie that is made with almond flour, cocoa powder and dates. This layer is pressed on top of the cookie crust. The third layer is the date caramel which is made of medjool dates, coconut milk and sea salt. Then lastly, the topping is a paleo ganache made with maple syrup, coconut oil and cocoa powder. It is poured on top and then coarse sea salt is sprinkled on top.
I know there are a lot of photos coming up, but bear with me! I wanted to make sure I highlighted each step in the recipe so you could have a visual reference to look at!
What is blind baking?
Blind baking is a baking technique where dried beans as placed on top of a raw pie or tart crust to prevent it from rising and puffing up during baking. Why is blind baking important? Well, blind baking is important because it keeps the same amount of space within the pie dish for a filling. If the pie crust puffs and expands during baking, the amount of filling that can be placed inside the pie dish and on top of the crust will be pretty minimal. Blind baking helps make sure your pie has room for lots of filling!
Make sure to try this No Bake Chocolate Almond Butter Tart for another easy chocolate lovers dessert
Salted Caramel Brownie Pie
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Crust:
- ¾ cup almond flour
- 2 tbsp coconut flour
- 2 tbsp flaxseed meal or ground flaxseeds
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ cup smooth almond butter
- ¼ cup coconut oil, melted
- ⅓ cup maple syrup
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
For the Brownie Layer:
- ½ cup almond flour
- ¼ cup cocoa powder or cacao powder
- 10 medjool dates, pitted try to use freshly packed dates as they will be soft
For the Date Caramel:
- 11 medjool dates, pitted try to use freshly packed dates as they will be soft
- ¼ cup coconut milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
For the Chocolate Topping:
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder or cacao powder
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup coconut oil
- 1 tsp coarse sea salt
Instructions
For the Chocolate Crust:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a pie dish with oil. In a medium sized bowl, combine the almond flour, coconut flour, flaxseed meal, cocoa powder and baking soda and mix well.
- In a separate bowl, combine the smooth almond butter, the melted coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla extract and mix well. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingrdedients and mix until well combined.
- Pour the cookie batter into the pie dish and spread into an even layer making sure to work up on the sides of the pie dish to create a crust. Place a small piece of parchment paper over top of the crust and pour 1-2 cups of uncooked beans on top. I used black turtle beans but any type of bean will work. Place in the oven for 20 minutes or until the crust springs back.
- Take the pie out of the oven and allow to cool while working on the rest of the recipe. Remove the parchment paper and the beans from the pie. Please note that once beans are used for blind baking, they should not be cooked and consumed. Store them in a mason jar labeled Blind Baking Beans for future baking needs.
For the Brownie Layer:
- Place all the brownie ingredients into a food processor and process until the batter is smooth and starts to clump together forming a ball. Press the brownie in an even layer on top of the crust. Set aside while making the caramel.
For the Date Caramel:
- Place all of the caramel ingredients in a food processor and process until ultra smooth. Pour the caramel on top of the brownie and spread into an even layer. Set aside while you make the topping.
For the Chocolate Topping:
- Place the coconut oil in a small sauce pan and warm over low heat. Once the coconut oil is melted, add the maple syrup and cocoa powder and mix until well combined and the has a a chocolate sauce like consistency. Pour the chocolate ganache on top of the date caramel and pread out into an even layer. Sprinkle with the coarse sea salt. Place in the refridgerator until the topping is hard, about 20-30 minutes.
- When ready to cut, run a knife under hot water and then slice the pie. The hot knife will slightly melt the chocolate topping making it easier to cut. Enjoy!
SAVE TO PINTEREST!
I loved the way this pie turned out, but it was a little harder for me to get each layer to turn out the way it was supposed to. My brownie layer stayed pretty crumbly (maybe I measured out too much almond flour?) so I ended up adding some more dates and a little almond butter. My caramel layer wasn’t as thick as the pie in the picture so next time I may make more of the caramel.
Overall though really tasty!