Pie by Design

Two pies.

Last week I made a pumpkin mousse pie using the Whole Foods pumpkin mousse recipe, substituting pecans and pumpkin for the cashews and squash (and using less coconut milk), in a raisin-oat piecrust.  ‘Twas mucho good.   Two words: black cocoa.

Pie by Design!  My friend Torie and I were eating ice cream last Wednesday, and she had a scoop each of mint chocolate chip and cookies and cream, while I had chocolate sorbet and mango sorbet.  “Mint chocolate chip cookies and cream” sounded like pie to me.  I described it to her and made it on Mother’s Day.  This is draft one; I’m going to try it with different variations of filling since not everyone’s a soy fan.

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies and Cream Pie, Version 1.0

Cookies and Cream Crust:

1 cup GF rolled oats

1/3 cup dates, soaked

1 cup whole almonds, soaked

1 tablespoon coconut oil, solid

1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder

soaking water as needed

Mint Chocolate Chip Filling:

1 cup dates, soaked

1 3-ounce bar vegan chocolate, broken into bits (your choice on the size)

12.3 ounces firm silken tofu

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon mint extract

1/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Grease a 9” pie plate.

In a food processor, pulse the oats, soaked dates and almonds, coconut oil, and cocoa powder until the mixture begins to clump together.  Add soaking water a tablespoon at a time until the mixture coheres.  Press into the pie plate and bake for 10 minutes.  Remove from the oven and set aside.

In the food processor, pulse the chocolate bar until it’s broken into chunks the size you desire.  Remove chocolate bits and set aside.  Pulse the tofu, dates, vanilla, and mints until uniformly amber and the dates are well-processed.  Stir in the chocolate bits.  Transfer to the piecrust and top with the chocolate chips.  Chill for four hours or overnight before serving.

When I tasted the filling, I noticed the mint extract left a distinctly alcoholic aftertaste; it’s, um, several years old.  McCormick is still headquartered in Baltimore, though; it took way too many clicks to find that on their website.

My mom made chocolate cupcakes and strawberry cream-cheeze frosting-sauce for dessert so I went to town on Sunday and had pie and a cupcake.

What’d you do for Mother’s Day?  I made Overnight Buckwheat Pancakes from Laurie Sadowski's The Allergy-Free Cook Bakes Bread and my mom cooked them on the griddle that morning.