Vegan Chocolate Pie
This Vegan Chocolate Pie was a request from a friend in the US. Sweet pies like these don’t seem to be very common in Australia, and I certainly hadn’t ever tasted one before. I asked for more clarification, and the description he gave me was for a pie that was half brownie, half custard inside. Well, after quite a few attempts, I think I’ve managed it! And, if like me, you’ve never tried chocolate pie before, I seriously recommend you try this one! It’s delicious!
This Chocolate Pie is deliciously rich and indulgent. It makes a perfect Christmas dessert, or dessert for any other time of the year, too!
Most Vegan Chocolate Pie recipes that I’ve come across use tofu to thicken them. I tried a tofu chocolate mousse recipe once, and I really didn’t like the tofu aftertaste. I actually loosely based this recipe off some of the pumpkin pie recipes that I’ve seen around, instead. This recipe uses cornflour to thicken it, and almond butter to give the extra “brownie texture”. But not too much – it’s only half brownie y’all!
This recipe uses Vegan chocolate. You can get chocolate from a health food or vegan store, but I normally just get some from the supermarket. The Lindt dark chocolates are vegan, and I’ve found the green and black dark chocolate to be vegan too.
A word of warning about the Lindt dark chocolate – when I made the pie using Lindt 70% dark chocolate, it did not set at all. My pie was literally liquid. I’ve looked at both types of chocolate and I cannot find any difference in the ingredients, so it might have just been a one time strange thing. If you find that the pie filling doesn’t end up setting, you can put it in the freezer for a couple of hours prior to serving and it will firm up. It still tastes amazing either way!
I’ve included a sweet pastry crust made with cashew nut butter in the recipe. You could use a premade vegan pie crust, or even premade sweet shortcrust pastry instead. I did try the pie with a chocolate crust, but I found it overwhelmingly rich. So, go chocolate at your own risk!
To Make Vegan Chocolate Pie Base
To make the pie crust, preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line the base and sides of a pie dish or springform pan with baking paper.
Sift flour into a large bowl. Add brown sugar and mix with a spoon until combined.
Add the cashew butter. Rub between your fingers until it forms a crumb.
Add the water 1 Tbs at a time. Mix through with a knife, slowly adding water until it forms a dough. You may need more or less of the ½ cup of water, depending on the temperature and humidity levels where you are baking.
When the mix comes together to form a dough, transfer to a lightly floured bench. Form the dough into a disk shape. Roll out with a rolling pin until it is large enough for the base and sides of your prepared pan.
Carefully transfer the dough to your prepared pan. Press the sides of the dough into the sides of the pan. You can fill any gaps with extra pieces of dough.
Bake for approximately 15 mins, until the base is just lightly browned.
Remove from oven and allow to cool.
To Make Vegan Chocolate Pie Filling
Heat milk and chocolate over low heat, stirring until chocolate is melted. It is important that the milk doesn’t boil this it can burn the chocolate.
Add chocolate milk, almond butter, cocoa, sugar and cornflour to a blender. Blend until smooth. Allow bubbles to settle for a few minutes.
Place prepared pie crust in its baking tin on a baking tray to make it easier to transfer. Pour chocolate mix into prepared pie crust. Bake for approximately 30 minutes.
Remove from oven. The pie filling will still wobble a little, but will firm up once it cools. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
Vegan Chocolate Pie
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 cups Wholemeal Flour
- ¼ cup Brown Sugar
- ¾ cup Cashew Nut Butter
- ½ cup Water
Filling
- 2 cups Unsweetened Almond Milk
- 90 g Dark Choc
- ½ cup Almond butter
- ½ cup Cocoa
- 1 cup Brown Sugar
- 3 Tbs Cornflour
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line the base and sides of a springform pan or pie dish with baking paper.
- Sift flour into a large bowl. Add brown sugar and mix with a spoon until combined.
- Add the cashew butter. Rub between your fingers until it forms a crumb.
- Add the water 1 Tbs at a time. Mix through with a knife, slowly adding water until it forms a dough. You may need more or less of the ½ cup of water.
- When the mix comes together to form a dough, transfer to a lightly floured bench. Form the dough into a disk shape. Roll out until it is large enough for the base and sides of your prepared pan.
- Carefully transfer the dough to your prepared pan. Press the sides of the dough into the sides of the pan. You can fill any gaps with extra pieces of dough.
- Bake for approximately 15 mins, until the base is just lightly browned.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Filling
- Heat milk and chocolate over low heat, stirring until chocolate is melted. It is important that the milk doesn’t boil as it can burn the chocolate.
- Add chocolate milk, almond butter, cocoa, sugar and cornflour to a blender. Blend until smooth,
- Allow bubbles to settle for a few minutes.
- Place prepared pie crust in its baking tin on a baking tray to make it easier to transfer.
- Pour chocolate mix into prepared pie crust.
- Bake for approximately 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven. The pie filling will still wobble a little, but will firm up once it cools.
- Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
- Carefully remove from the springform pan to serve
