Secret Mango Flower Pie

Today is a National Mango Day, Beautiful People, so I am repeating one of my favorite dessert recipes.

Flowers are not only pretty; they have meanings.  The language of flowers, sometimes called floriography, has been used throughout the ages to express messages of love, longing, happiness, desire, pity, and sometimes even suspicion and sarcasm. Although the book Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh elaborates mainly on – ahem! -elaborate Victorian flower arrangements “used to convey romantic expressions,” Shakespeare had already covered this field of flowers in Hamlet, in the famous “Mad Ophelia” scene:

Here is Kate Winslet, of the Titanic fame, throwing sarcastic barbs, thinly disguised as gifts of flowers, to the king who “stole his brother’s wife” (Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5) and the queen, with bitter disdain at her unfaithfulness.  But be of good cheer – not every situation in life is as tragic as the fate of poor Ophelia! Here is the inimitable Al Pacino who received an Oscar for his performance in the Scent of a Woman, dancing tango to Tchaikovsky’s Waltz of the Flowers:

To make things even more exciting, at our May Lasting Joy club get-together, we have created our own flowers, delicious edible ones, the Secret Mango Flower Pies. You can watch the video here, but I’ll take you through the process – an amazingly easy one!

Get yourself a ready-made pie crust or make one by pulverizing soaked dates with walnuts and pressing the resulting mass into a pie form. No baking required!

Soak raw cashews in coconut milk, with lemon juice, olive oil, and agave. I also add a jigger of rum, just for fun. Leave it be for a while, until your cashews are nice and soft.

Pulse soaked cashews to make delicious cashew cream. That’s your secret pie filling!

The second secret is whipped coconut cream with powdered roasted cashews and cocoa powder. You didn’t expect me to produce a dessert without chocolate, did you?

Now let your imagination guide you in creating a flower of thinly sliced mango. Express your love, your kindness, your sweetness, and your wildest dreams in this beautiful, light and airy, and Oh! so healthy dessert!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 ready-made pie crust
• *Alternatively, 12 pitted dates and 1/4 cup walnuts
• 1 ripe but firm mango
• 1/2 cup raw cashews1/4 cup roasted unsalted cashews1 cup heavy coconut cream1/2 cup coconut milk*Alternatively, 1/4 cup coconut milk and 1/4 cup rum1 teaspoon lemon juice1 teaspoon Agave or honey1 teaspoon olive oil1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

PROCEDURE

• If making gluten free crust, soak pitted dates in water for 15 – 20 minutes, or until soft to touch. Pulse together with walnuts to get homogenous paste. Press paste into pie form. Refrigerate.
• Soak raw cashews in coconut milk (alternatively, soak raw cashews in coconut milk and rum), with lemon juice, olive oil, Agave or honey, and vanilla extract for 15 – 20 minutes, or until soft to touch.  Pulse to get cashew cream.
• Fill pie crust with cashew cream. Refrigerate.
• Pulse roasted cashews to fine powder. Add to coconut cream, add cocoa powder, whip until stiff peaks. Spread evenly on top of cashew cream. Refrigerate.
• Slice mango as soon as possible. Insert mango slices into topping vertically, going from edge towards center. Save 4 – 5 of the thinnest slices. Roll the thinnest slice, insert in center, form flower around it.
• Alternatively, sprinkle some roasted cashew powder and/or cocoa powder on top.

Enjoy!