This rich treat is featured on the cover of the Hella Delicious 2011 calendar–it is delicious and quite easy to make.

Crust:

• 3/4 c raw cashew butter
• 1 1/2 c chopped nuts (I use cashews, pecans, walnuts and/or hazelnuts)
• 3 cardamom pods, seeds removed and ground
• 5-7 fresh dates, seeded and chopped
• pinch salt

Filling:

• 4-5 c cherries, pitted
• 2 T sesame paste (raw–not toasted)
• 1 T honey
• vanilla essence

Method:
Mix the crust ingredients together. Your nuts are better digested if they are soaked and slow roasted, see here for details. Press into a buttered pie dish–9″ chill for ten minutes as you mix the filling.

For the filling, mix together the cherries, honey, raw sesame paste and vanilla and place it in the shell and bake it in a low oven for about 30 minutes. I find that nuts like to be baked at a gentler temperature so it is ok to cook it on a slower oven for a longer time. Around 250-300 degrees F is a good temperature. My oven is a bit temperamental and I am sure a lot of other people’s are as well so it is good to get used to watching your food as it cooks. This way we can also learn to cook our food to our liking. Some people may prefer this to be more cooked and some people may prefer it less cooked.

This is very good with honey and whipped cream or honey and home-made cream cheese.