Last weekend my husband and I visited good friends of ours that have recently had a baby (a super cute one, at that!). We thought it might be nice to make dinner for the busy new parents and this pie was what I brought for dessert.

When I was trying to decide what to make I had three objectives:

1. Need to be able to make it the night before (which also means it must travel well)
2. Needs to be sort of a universal crowd-pleaser
3. Needs to be delicious

Obviously, that’s sort of a tall order. However, as I was thumbing through Vegan Pie in the Sky, I came across this little slice of heaven and knew it was just what the doctor ordered. If you’ve got an occasion coming up or are just in the mood for something yummy, give this one a try.

Vegan Grasshopper Pie
Recipe courtesy of Vegan Pie in the Sky

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups finely ground vegan chocolate wafer cookies (Newman’s Own makes a good one)
3 tbs sugar
4 tbs Earth Balance
1 tbs plain soy or almond milk

1/2 cup whole unroasted cashews, soaked in water for 2-8 hrs or until very soft
1 (13 oz) can coconut milk at room temp.
1/4 cup creme de menthe
1/2 cup plain unsweetened almond milk
1/2 tsp agar powder
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp mint extract
4-6 drops green food coloring

1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tsp coconut oil

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350°F and lightly spray a 9-inch pie plate w/non-stick cooking spray
• In a mixing bowl, combine the cookie crumbs and sugar
• Drizzle in the butter and use a spoon to blend the mixture thoroughly to moisten the crumbs, then drizzle in the milk and stir again to form a crumbly dough
• Pour the crumbs into the pie plate
• Press crumbs into the sides of the plate first, then work down to the bottom
• Bake for 10 min.
• Set aside to cool
• Drain the cashews and place them in a food processor or blender
• Blend with the coconut milk and creme de menthe until totally smooth
• In the meantime, stir together the almond milk and agar powder in a small 2 qt saucepot
• Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring consistently
• Boil for 30 seconds, then lower the heat so that you’re just getting small bubbles and cook for about 5 min., stirring occasionally
• Whisk in the sugar, add the coconut oil and mix until melted
• With the food processor running, stream the hot mixture in until thoroughly blended with the cashew mixture
• Add the vanilla, mint and food coloring and pulse to combine
• Transfer the mixture to the prepared crust and refrigerate until set, about 4-6 hours
• When the pie is almost set, melt the chocolate chips in a bowl and stir in the coconut oil to melt
• Transfer the melted chocolate to a plastic bag
• Snip a tiny corner off the bag and drizzle the chocolate all over the pie
• Return to the fridge to set for at least 20 min. (to bring out the full flavor of the mint and mellow the coconut flavor, chill overnight)
• Serve with vegan whipped cream

Yield: One 9-inch pie

This is the pumpkin pie I made for Thanksgiving this year. It tasted as good as it looks (unless, of course, you don’t think it looks good, in which case, it tasted better than it looks)!

I’m not actually all that hip on pumpkin pie but it was a special request from my mom so I took the plunge. It also gave me an excuse to buy Vegan Pie in the Sky, which you should run out and do immediately.

Vegan Pumpkin Pie
Recipe courtesy of Vegan Pie in the Sky

Crust Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold nonhydrogenated shortening
4 tbs or more ice water
2 tsp apple cider vinegar

Filling Ingredients

3 cups pumpkin puree
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup plain unsweetened soy milk
4 tsp canola oil
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbs cornstarch
1 tsp agar powder*

*For the life of me, I cannot find agar powder around St. Louis. I ground up agar flakes in a coffee grinder to make “powder” and it worked fine.

Crust Directions

• Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Cut in the shortening to form a crumbly dough
• Stir together 4 tbs of the ice water and vinegar, then drizzle a third of it over the flour mixture. Gently mix to moisten, drizzle in another third of the liquid and mix to moisten. Repeat with remaining mixture until dough forms a soft ball when pressed together. If it hasn’t come together yet, sprinkle in another tbs of water (or more) until the dough can be gathered into a ball
• Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour
• When you’re ready, roll out the crust into a circle about 12 in. in diameter and transfer onto a pie plate, gently pressing in, if necessary
• Trim any overhanging dough, leaving about 1 1/2 in
• Crimp the edges as desired

Filling Directions

• Preheat oven to 350°F
• In a blender or food processor, pulse together filling ingredients until very smooth
• Pour filling into the pie shell
• Bake for 60 to 65 min, until center looks semi-firm
• Check edges of crust after about 40 min. If edges are browning too rapidly, carefully remove the pie and apply crust protectors to the edges*
• Remove pie from oven and transfer onto cooling rack for 30 min, then chill for at least 4 hours before slicing
• Serve with non-dairy whipped cream or ice cream

*you can use aluminum foil for this

Yield: One 9 in. pie

I realize we’re a little past peach season at this point, but that’s what bookmarks are for, right?

This is the last recipe from our recent vacation and while the filling is good, the real standout element here is the crust. This is Kim Barnouin‘s pie dough recipe from Skinny Bitch Ultimate Everyday Cookbook and it is fantastic. It’s great for any fruit pie or even a veggie pot pie, as she recommends. It makes a very “sturdy” crust that still manages to remain light and flaky. If you’re planning an apple pie for Thanksgiving this year, I’d highly recommend giving this dough a try.

Vegan Peach Pie
Recipe Courtesy of Jolinda Hackett & Skinny Bitch Ultimate Everyday Cookbook

Filling Ingredients

• 6 cups fresh peaches, peeled and sliced
• 3 tbs all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp allspice
• 2 tbs cold Earth Balance, cut into small pieces
• 1 tbs soy milk
• 1 tsp sugar

Dough Ingredients

• 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 14 tbs ice water
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable shortening

Directions

• Mix together the flour and salt for dough in a large bowl
• In a glass measuring cup, add 1/2 cup of the cold water, then add the vegetable shortening to equal 2 cups of water and shortening combined. Lightly pack the shortening to remove air bubbles and then scoop out the shortening from the measuring cup with a spoon and add the flour mixture, discarding the water
• Using a pastry cutter, cut the shortening into the flour mixture until small flaky dough balls start to form. Add the 14 tbs of ice water, one tbs at a time and continue mixing
• Add additional tbs of water if the dough seems too hard. Chill the dough in the fridge if it’s too soft. Divide dough into to two equal portions and roll into balls
• Preheat oven to 350°F
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Place the peaches in boiling water for just a few seconds, then carefully remove. This should make removal of peach skins easy. Peel and slice peaches
• In a medium bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, nutmeg and allspice for the filling with the peaches, tossing to coat
• Roll out the first ball of dough and place in a 9 in. pie pan
• Spread filling into the pan and drop cut Earth Balance onto the mixture
• Roll out the second ball of dough and place over the top of the pan. Trim any extra dough and then press the edges to seal, crimping with a fork or pinching closed with your fingers
• Brush the top of your pie with soy milk and sprinkle with sugar
• Make about 6, 1/2 in. cuts in the top crust to release steam during baking
• Bake for about 1 hr, or until pie is bubbling

I’m back!

This recipe is my favorite among all the things I made while we were on vacation. Obviously, we rented a little beach house with a kitchen and I had a fantastic time cooking up all kinds of new recipes that I can’t wait to share with you! Since we were in Florida and it is one of my favorite desserts of all time (that I haven’t been able to have since the vegan switch), I decided a key lime pie was in order.

This comes from Isa Chandra’s fabulous blog, Post Punk Kitchen, and it was grrreat! Like Isa, I too used regular limes both because I couldn’t find key limes and because they’re difficult to zest, and it was no loss.

A few quick things to note before we get down to bidness:

First, this recipe uses agar flakes. If this is the first time you’ve worked with agar, don’t be scared! It is important to remember to follow the directions carefully though. Agar is temperamental, so it’s important to really follow the steps to a T.

Second, Isa notes that this recipe makes one 9 or 10 inch pie. I’d say it’s more solidly 10 inch. If you use a 9 inch pie plate as I did, you may not want to use all of the filling. Mine was a smidge overfilled.

Third, the base of the filling here is coconut milk. This does lend a hint of coconut flavor but certainly nothing overpowering. I’m not a fan of coconut and I was cool with it.

Finally, this is the third time I’ve made a vegan graham cracker crust. The first two times I used Health Valley Graham Crackers – which have been the only vegan brand of grahams I can find around St. Louis. Though they’re not bad by any means, they just don’t work well in a graham cracker crust, so this time, I went with plain ‘ol Nabisco Grahams.

This brand is found on PETA’s “Accidentally Vegan” list, but as you may recall, PETA doesn’t sweat trace amounts of animal ingredients in products. The presence of non-organic sugar in these makes them questionable – so if you’re adamant about that kind of stuff, these may not work for you. You should know that the difference in taste and texture is really significant though.

Vegan Key Lime Pie
Recipe Courtesy of Post Punk Kitchen

Ingredients

1 tbs finely grated lime zest
2/3 cup fresh lime juice
1 1/2 cups unsweetend almond milk, at room temperature
2 tbs agar flakes
1 16 oz can coconut milk, at room temperature
2 tbs tapioca flour (corn starch or arrowroot could work too)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups vegan graham cracker crumbs*
3/4 cup Earth Balance

*To make graham cracker crumbs, place graham cracker squares in a sealed plastic bag and smash with a rolling pin or grind graham cracker squares in a food processor. You’ll need 12 to 13 squares to make 2 cups of crumbs.

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350° F. Oil your pie plate
• Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Turn off heat and stir in graham cracker crumbs
• Press the crumb mixture into the bottom and slightly up the sides of the prepared plate and bake for 5 min. Let cool on a baking rack
• Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, soak the agar in the almond milk for about 15 min.
• Mix coconut milk, tapioca, sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl (Be sure the coconut milk is room temp so that it doesn’t mess with the agar when you add it to the pan)
• After soaking agar, turn on the heat and bring to a boil. Don’t let it boil over
• Once boiling, immediately reduce heat and let simmer for about 15 min, until agar is dissolved.
• Once dissolved (you can check by dipping in a tablespoon and seeing if there are any agar flakes visible), very slowly whisk in the coconut mixture and then the lime juice and zest. Adding it too fast will gel up the agar.
• Once added, whisk often for about 10  minutes, until mixture has thickened. If it isn’t thickening, turn up the heat just a bit, but don’t let it boil
• Once thickened, pour into your graham cracker crust and let cool on the counter for about a half hour, just so it isn’t steaming like crazy
• Refrigerate for at least 3 hours, until fully set. Garnish with limes slices and some vegan whipped cream

Yield: One 10″ pie