Baking

The raw pie crust is the single most elaborated replacement technique in the sources, and Aajonus gave detailed instructions for it in multiple contexts.

The basic formula is nuts, a few dates, and butter. He preferred to grind the nuts slightly in a food processor rather than a blender, bringing them to a rough grind rather than a powder. He then added two or three dates and a couple of tablespoons of butter and let the processor run until the mixture clumped into a ball. He buttered the glass pie dish to prevent sticking, pressed the mixture into the bottom of the dish, and placed it in the freezer while making the filling. He specified the freezer, not the refrigerator, because the cold causes the butter to harden quickly, sealing the crust so it stays crunchy even when wet filling is poured over it.

He used honey in the crust specifically to preserve it and prevent the nuts from going rancid. The quantity he specified was one tablespoon of honey in the crust, and he distinguished this from the filling where he might use one to two tablespoons of honey as well. Dates served as his primary sweetener and binder throughout because of their pectin content and gelatinous effect. He said he used only two or three dates in the crust but ten to fifteen dates, or more if they were small, in the filling.

He had strong preferences about which nuts to use. He preferred almonds, typically using half almonds combined with something else, either walnuts or pecans. He noted that if pecans are used the result tastes like butter pecan crust and described it as phenomenal. He specifically said he would not use sunflower seeds because they are too delicate and go rancid too quickly. He also said coconut does not stay stable in a crust and has a tendency to rancidify.

He described the butter's role in the crust in two ways: it holds the mixture together when it hardens in the freezer, and it seals the crust surface so that moisture from the filling does not make the crust mushy. He said he only keeps the crust in the freezer as long as it takes to make the filling, then pulls it out, pours in the filling, and returns the pie to the refrigerator to solidify.

One of the most specific discussions of actual baking in the sources involves apple strudel. Aajonus described this as something he made during a period when he would not eat anything cooked at all, which implies he constructed it to be acceptable despite containing a baked component, presumably because the dough component was minimal and the filling was entirely raw.

The dough for the strudel strips should be made like pie crust dough without the fat, almost like bland bread, and without sweetening. He did not specify yeast. The strips should be cut and baked on a Pyrex plate so they do not absorb aluminum or other metals from the pan. He did not give a specific oven temperature, but he said not to cook the dough until it is completely solid; it should be left slightly moist.

The filling is made while the strips bake. For two people: one pear and two apples, cored but not peeled. The peel and the meat are both blended together. To this he adds approximately ten dates and a block of cheese roughly one inch by three inches, sliced thin. He blends all of this together with about two tablespoons of Canadian clover white honey to give a powdered sugar taste, blending until very smooth and until it is warm to the hand. He estimated this takes four and a half to five minutes of blending.

When the strips are done baking and have been removed and placed on plates to cool slightly, a half-inch layer of the fruit and cheese sauce is poured over them. Three strips of baked dough are placed going one direction, then pats of butter are added on top, followed by grated cheese. More sauce is added, then three more strips are laid going the other direction, followed by more butter and cheese. He said to let the assembled dish sit for maybe three minutes so the sauce starts to absorb into the dough just enough to get slightly absorbed while retaining some crunch.

He noted that adding raw nuts on top might cause diarrhea in combination with the apples, because apples and nuts do not digest well together when not integrated into the crust structure. However, if nuts are ground into the crust itself rather than sprinkled on top, that combination is different and does not present the same digestive problem.

Aajonus addressed pizza as a specific recipe request. He described making a bread crust without the fat, not even requiring yeast because it does not need to leaven. This crust could either be made at home or bought from a store, though he noted store-bought crusts are usually made from fortified and bleached flour. He said a homemade crust could be baked or toasted, and that the pizza could be made with many different toppings. He specifically suggested very thin slices of filet mignon laid as strips across the crust as one topping option.

The cheesecake is one of Aajonus's most fully developed raw replacements for a baked dessert, and he explicitly said it could be made in twenty minutes, which he offered as a contrast to the impossibility of making a cooked cheesecake that quickly.

The standard cheesecake recipe calls for three-quarters pound no-salt-added raw cheddar cheese, one pound unsalted raw butter, one cup raw walnut halves, three tablespoons unheated honey, and one drop organic vanilla extract, with an optional topping of one and one-third cups raw cream and one tablespoon unheated honey. The cheese and butter are left at room temperature to warm for four hours before beginning. The cheese is sliced into one-eighth-inch slices and half the cheese, half the butter, and one tablespoon honey are placed into each of two sixteen-ounce jars and warmed immersed in a bowl of mildly hot water while the crust is made.

The crust is made in a food processor, not a blender. Nuts, two tablespoons butter, and one tablespoon honey are blended in the food processor until they form a large ball. The bottom and sides of an eight- or nine-inch pie plate are buttered, the nut mixture is spread and pressed evenly onto the bottom, and the dish goes into the freezer while the filling is made.

The filling is blenderized on high speed for sixty to ninety seconds until smooth and not grainy, with the instruction not to let it get too hot while blending. It is poured into the chilled crust and placed in the refrigerator for several hours. If a topping is being made, the pie goes back into the freezer while the topping is prepared. He specified that flavors blend better when the finished cheesecake stands for twenty hours rather than the minimum eight hours.

A variation in the sources, described as the Orange Chocolate Cheesecake, uses one cup raw walnut halves, four large raw Medjool dates with stones removed and chopped, and two tablespoons unsalted raw butter for the crust. The filling uses three-quarters cup no-salt-added hard raw cheese, sixteen tablespoons unsalted raw butter, and two tablespoons unheated honey, all blenderized until smooth, with warm water used to assist blending if the ingredients do not blend smoothly on their own. The baking dish specified for this variation is an eight by six by two-and-a-half inch Pyrex dish, very lightly buttered on the bottom and sides and placed in the freezer while the crust is made.

Three alternative toppings are given for the cheesecake. The first is whipped raw cream with honey. The second is low-carbohydrate fruit such as cherries or berries blended with honey. The third is dates and fruit blended together.

Aajonus developed several raw pies that replace the concept of baked fruit pie entirely, keeping only the structural form while making every component raw.

The Ambrosia Coconut Cream Pie uses a raw walnut crust made with butter and honey in the food processor, chilled in the freezer for fifteen minutes, followed by a filling of non-steamed dates and fruits blenderized until thick, and a topping of coconut cream, raw butter, raw eggs, and honey placed in the food processor and blended for twenty to thirty seconds. The filled pie is chilled in the refrigerator for thirty minutes to firm the coconut cream topping. An alternative topping substitutes one egg and adds fresh lime or lemon juice.

The Ambrosia Cream Pie follows the same crust structure but replaces the coconut cream topping with raw cream whipped with honey.

The Banana Cream Pie uses the same walnut crust structure and a filling of eggs, dates, bananas, butter, and vanilla extract blenderized until thick, with sliced banana folded in afterward, and a topping of raw cream whipped with honey.

The Pumpkin Pie that tastes like pumpkin pie is made from ripe persimmons rather than pumpkin, with dates, honey, a walnut crust, butter, and raw cream whipped as topping. The filling uses half the dates and half the persimmons blenderized on high speed for forty seconds, repeated in a second jar with the remaining dates and persimmons. The crust for this pie is placed in the freezer while the filling is made.

In all of these preparations, Aajonus specified glass or ceramic pie dishes rather than metal, both to avoid aluminum absorption and because he consistently specified Pyrex or glass vessels throughout his work.

Aajonus acknowledged that some people cannot digest the raw Nut Formula and need cooked starch to bind with toxins, including excess hormones. He described this as a determination the person could make by eating the Nut Formula when extra-stressed. If the person becomes more self-controlled within twelve hours of eating the Nut Formula, cooked starch is not needed. If they cannot digest the Nut Formula, a little cooked starch eaten with plenty of raw fat is the fallback.

He mentioned that when he craves cooked starches, it is usually pasta or baked potato, not rice cakes, which he had not eaten in about three years by the time of that conversation. He said he follows his instincts, and that instinct for dried or cooked starch tends to arise more in cold climates.

Wherever baking does occur in his framework, Aajonus consistently specified Pyrex as the baking vessel. His reason was direct: Pyrex prevents the absorption of aluminum or other metals from standard baking pans into the food. He also noted that enamel coatings on metal baking vessels can get into food within a week of use, and that the same concern applies to any cooking vessel with a painted enamel interior that is not a white enamel bottom. The consistent instruction is to use glass or ceramic dishes whenever food is being heated or assembled, and Pyrex specifically for anything that goes into an oven.

One specific baked preparation Aajonus described in detail was baked potato chips made for a client who had intense cravings for fried chips. The method was to slice the potatoes, toast them in a broiler until crisp, and then serve them with raw unsalted butter. He specified that each chip should be taken while still very warm, not hot, and dipped in the raw butter so that it is oily and still crispy at the point of eating. He noted that if the chips are dipped and then allowed to sit for a few minutes they become soggy. He described a case where a client ate essentially nothing but these chips for two days and afterward had no more cravings for that food.

Aajonus described making raw chocolate from cocoa beans, or cacao beans, as a replacement for the baked and processed chocolate available commercially. The method is to peel the raw beans, grind them to powder in a blender, and add butter and honey. He noted this produces bitter chocolate. A more developed formula from the newsletters calls for cocoa beans blenderized in an eight-ounce jelly jar until they become powder, then adding unsalted raw butter, unheated honey, an egg, and raw cream, blenderized until smooth without letting the mixture get hot. For a slightly rum-tasting chocolate, the mixture is left at room temperature in a warm dark cupboard for five to seven days with the lid on tightly.

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