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Great British Bake Off Clean Treats (WEEK 6 - BOTANICAL)

Today, I have only one recipe for you, BUT don't get upset, as I am planning to make an awesome botanical cake showstopper for you ASAP (I must however pre-warn you, neat just isn't my style so I don't know how this will turn out... so...  if you don't see it, you can assume it went horrifically and embarrassingly wrong! 


These past few days have been a mad rush - lots of sample sending of Swolesomefoods treats. Luckily in between that I managed to make a protein, sugar-free meringue.  After seeing Jane's lime and coconut meringue pie I had to try it! I didn't even know they made grapefruit or lime meringues pies. In my little hometown we only got lemon ones, this was a total revelation. FYI lime in a meringue is very, VERY nice. 

The curd is tart and tangy, the crust (don't get me started on this crust, this crust itself could have been a stand alone dessert), with a sweet coconut cloud meringue on top. 



PROTEIN LIME AND COCONUT MERINGUE PIE

Yeilds 8 servings

PIE CRUST

  • 1 1/2 cup pecans
  • 1/2 cup desiccated coconut 
  • 2 scoops vanilla protein
  • 1/4 cup coconut flour
  • 1/4 cup agave/maple/ honey
  • 2 tbsp melted coconut oil
  • 2 tbsp smooth almond butter
  • Pinch of sea salt

LIME CURD

  • 1 can coconut cream (around 400ml)
  • 5 limes, juiced
  • 2 tbsp lime zest
  • 2 tbsp arrowroot powder
  • 1 tbsp agave/honey/maple syrup
  • 1 tbsp xyiltol or stevia
  • 1 - 2 scoops vanilla protein
  • Green food colouring

COCONUT MERINGUE

  • 3 fresh egg whites at room temp
  • 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 140g xylitol
  • 1 tsp cream of tarter
  • 1 tsp coconut flavouring
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 50g desiccated coconut
  • An electric hand whisker/ or machine
  • Coconut flakes & white chocolate shavings for topping
(This made A LOT of meringue, you could probably fill the pie with halving the amount)



METHOD

Pre-heat your oven to 190'C. Blitz all the pie crust ingredients in a high speed blender till it becomes doughey. Press the crust evenly into a pie or tart pan across the whole base and up the sides.  Poke a couple holes around the crust to allow the steam to escape while baking. Bake for 8-10 minutes till the crust starts to brown.

While the crust is the oven make your curd by combining the coconut cream, lime juice, zest, sweetener, syrup and arrowroot in a small saucepan. Place the sauce pan over a  medium to high heat continually whisking (make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan by using a spoon as well). When the mixture begins to bubble reduce the heat. Keep the mix over the heat until it thickens enough that your whisk can draw visible lines through it which hold their shape.  Take off the heat and transfer to a bowl. Here you can add your green food colouring to preference and some protein powder. At this point you can add extra sweetness too if you like or most zest. Then refrigerate. 

Next make your meringue topping. Add your egg whites, lemon juice and cream of tarter to your machine mixing bowl or a large mixing bowl if using a hand whisker. Put on high speed till the mix turns into white fluffy clouds. Slowly start adding the xylitol a heaped tablespoon at a time allowing the machine to whisk a little after each addition. Next add in the coconut flavouring and vanilla.  Keep the machine whisking until stiff peaks are formed. Your meringue mixture should be strong enough to stay in the bowl if it is turned upside down. This can take up to 5 minutes - be patient! Then pour the desiccated coconut on top of the mixture and slightly fold it in very softly with a spatula. If you mix or over fold the meringue will collapse so don't worry too much about getting the coconut evenly spread through.  

Fill your pie crust with the lime curd. 


You can pour the meringue on top of the curd and create wave like peaks using a spatula or for a more professional look spread around a 3rd of the meringue across the curd and flatten it, then pipe swirls with the remaining meringue. Decrease the temperature to 160'C and bake for 25 minutes.  



Remove from the oven and top with coconut flakes and white chocolate shavings. Allow the mixture to set before eating - this definitely tastes much better the next day after spending a night in the fridge!



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