Almond Meal Pie Crust

On Saturday I decided to make a cheesecake for Father's Day (Dad's into it). Alas, there were no graham crackers in the house, so I surveyed my other options.

Lucky for me I always have mass quantities of almonds & almond meal crust is super easy to make! You can buy it pre-made but it can be pretty expensive sometimes.

This is the recipe I used:

- 1 cup slivered almonds (grind them up in a food processor or coffee grinder until you get a flour like consistency. Don't overdo it or you'll wind up with almond butter.)

- 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

- 1 tablespoon stevia

- 2 tablespoons coconut oil (you could also use good ol' butter)

- 1 teaspoon light agave nectar


Mix it all together & stick the oven for 8-12 minutes.

My crust still comes out pretty lumpy though. I am trying to to work on that. Tips?


The end result is quite tasty:

I used a recipe for an Italian style cheesecake which I personally do not really care for. Those are the ones that are denser. The recipe called for ricotta. When it was done it looked like this:

Once, I ate a pie.

I do not remember when it started, but I've heard stories. There is the one my mother tells about leaving me with family when I was a baby & coming home to find me with an orange mush across my face. In this story I look at her and say "Pumpin' Pie" I can't confirm or deny if my first words were "pumpkin pie" at the age of ten months though it would not surprise me.

I have always had a sweet tooth but it's never really had much bias-- things were either "really good" or "okay" or "well, that sucked." And I didn't start baking until fairly recently. I have always liked going to bakeries, taking world tours that involve exclusive specialities & offering up my taste buds to any loving friend with an offering in hand.

Sometime last year, after I turned twenty-five, I figured boxed cakes with "I Feel Nothing" frosting & half hearted funfetti cupcakes weren't going to cut it anymore. Twenty-five meant I would have to legitimately acknowledge being an adult. It was the year of my first wrinkle, living alone, moving across the country & making a commitment to cookbooks. It was the first year I baked a pie. It was the first year I spent considerable time googling "Best Key Lime Pie" and "Best Marionberry Pie" and then printing out a map and deciding that I was going to be the judge of that.

There became a point in my enjoyment of the baked life where I wanted to be an active participant. I still do not know how to make a cheese danish or a plate of salted caramel, and I really would like to have these skills as part of my arsenal. Both of my grandmothers and my mom always baked everything from scratch with recipes that they memorized and never bothered to write down. I'll want to do some searching through the tastier parts of my family history!

Another huge aspect for me in wanting to baked my own goods (pie & other things) is wanting to have control over the ingredients. Whether it be buying some high fat/high quality fresh cream or trying out natural sugar substitutes when I am in the kitchen I like to know what I am putting into my treats.

I start this blog now because I want to bake almost all the time and because I am still in search for a few perfect slices. I am going to invite my friends, real bakers & anyone else to contribute. I want to taste everything and I want to bake just a little bit less than that.

-Daniela