Vegan chocolate cream pie, the first attempt
This is going to be my first ever SERIES!
What recipes fill you with nostalgia? For me, one of the most nostalgic recipes, something that I remember with extreme fondness is an Edward’s french silk pie. The neighborhood I grew up in had an Edward’s pie factory, so when we were driving through the underpass that lead into the neighborhood sometimes we’d get hit by a whiff of pie. It was amazing. It was a sense of hometown pride, I suppose, that lead to us pretty much only buying the Edward’s frozen pies (we usually got key lime, that’s neither here nor there), and so while I’ve had others, I always think of Edwards.
I am fairly certain that I’ve never had a french silk pie that was homemade, or came from like, a Fancy Pie Place, like a bakery or whatever. As far as I can tell, they originated from a freezer every time. One of the many great things about a french silk pie is that they are, in my opinion, still perfectly good even if they aren’t all the way thawed out. They’re one of god’s perfect foods. When I was in high school and feeling flush I would sometimes just buy a french silk pie and take it to the park in the summer.
What makes a french silk pie so good? I assumed that it was just like, whipped cream, but in fact, french silk pies are also made with So Much Dairy, like, dairy in ways that I had not thought were even possible in a pie.
A french silk pie is made with: a cooked egg sugar mixture, chocolate, obviously, cream, naturally, and oh, yeah that’s right a bunch of creamed butter. Not really an ingredient you expect to see in a pie.
Anyway, I can’t eat milk, and I love both chocolate pudding pies and french silk pies. A quick investigation into the vegan french silk pie landscape is… tragic. Totally tragic.
A few pie options that I found:
Pie made with silken tofu (this is the most common vegan option)
Pie made with… a sweet potato and also only two tablespoons of cocoa powder… tragic
Pie made with an avocado
A shocking number of pies that are made with… almond butter? For that… dense and sticky pie feeling.
A chocolate and agar agar filling
And to top it off a pie where the first step is “buy a vitamix!” no thanks!
Anyway, every summer, (and fall, winter, and spring) I crave French Silk Pie. The last time I ate it… I was destroyed. So I set out to make my own. This is a first draft, and as a french silk pie, it did not work at all! It was a resounding failure! However, as a very tasty pudding/slop it worked perfectly.
Make this: if you are vegan or dairy-free and you miss Very Good Pudding, or “dirt pudding” or chocolate pudding pie.
Do not make this if you don’t own bowls.
I have a few ideas about what to do next time, but let me know what you think might work, I’m interested to hear your ideas.
My idea: lighten it with an aquafaba foam, or try the silken tofu version. I think that a thick aquafaba would get the closest though, maybe.
Anyways, I think this is a great recipe if you have a long weekend, or if you don’t. It’s pretty easy, it just makes your house kinda hot, unless you have central air (who?)
I’m planning on returning to this recipe and workshopping it over the rest of the summer, so if you have any suggestions send them my way! I’d love to know what you think might work, as long as it isn’t a vegtable!
Vegan Chocolate Pudding Pie
Crust
2 cups ground oreos
4 tablespoons vegan butter, melted
a big pinch of kosher salt
Filling
2 cups reduced almond milk (instructions to follow)
1 cup light coconut milk
1/4 cup corn starch (30 g)
1/2 cup sugar (100 g)
a bigish pinch of salt
5 oz bittersweet chocolate
1 oz unsweetend chocolate
1 tsp vanilla
Make the crust:
Mix the stuff together, press it into a pan. Bake for 12 minutes or so at 350. Cool.
Make the filling:
Reduce the almond milk. I used 4 cups of almond milk, reduced to 3 cups. This took about an hour, because I was afraid of boiling it for some reason? But then it came to a boil anyway and nothing bad happened. Use the extra reduced milk for whatever. It’s good stuff.
Whisk the corn starch, sugar, and salt until combined. Put it in a saucepan. Slowly pour in the coconut milk and the two cups of reduced almond milk, whisking constantly so it doesn’t get lumpy. Cook mixture until it thickly coats the back of a wooden spoon. Add in the chocolate. Cook until very think, and chocolate is totally melted and combined. 2-4 minutes.
Pour through strainer into the pie shell. Cover in plastic wrap, stick in the freezer to cool.
Top with crushed oreos, if you’re feeling un-fancy.
Chill for a few hours, or overnight. We wound up basically slopping it into a tupperware after the first night and just eating that, it was still very tasty two days later, although the oreo crust was a bit soggy. Still really good though.
Final outcome:
Too sloppy! Maybe the problem is with this particular pudding mixture, it might just be Not Right for making a pudding pie. I might try a firmer mixture, and then combine that with aquafaba to give it the weird lightness that you usually get from a french silk pie. Maybe I’ll just try creaming vegan butter and mixing that with cooled pudding???? I certainly won’t be trying a sweet potato that’s deranged.